Two thirds of Maltese population visited Valletta in December 2025 – survey
A nationwide survey carried out by Vincent Marmara has found that last December, virtually two thirds of people in the country (66.4%) visited the capital city.
Most of these people visited Valletta due to the Christmas festivities organised during that month.
Statistician Vincent Marmara was commissioned to carry out two surveys on behalf of the Valletta Cultural Agency – both surveys were related to Valletta during the Christmas period, specifically during last December. One survey analysed the footfall in Valletta last December while the other looked into the performance of businesses in Valletta during the same period.
The first survey had a sample size of 600 individuals with a confidence interval of (+/-) 4.0%.
In this first survey, two thirds of respondents (66.4%) said they visited Valletta in December. From these people, over half (52.2%) went to the capital twice or three times. Nearly a fifth of these people (18.5%) went to Valletta five times or more, while 29.3% said they went once.
Over 77% of survey participants who visited said that when they visited Valletta, they stayed in the area for at least three hours. 57.1% said they spent between three and four hours there, 20.7% said they spent over four hours. Furthermore, a further fifth of people (21.6%) stayed in the area for between one and two hours, while just 0.7% of people stayed for less than an hour.
Marmara’s survey found that most visitors were enticed to go to the capital city to see the Christmas tree (60.3%), to see the Christmas lights set up (57.6%), to eat in a restaurant or cafeteria (52.2%), and to attend Christmas in the Capital (36.4%).
Children’s favourite attraction in Valletta last December was Fairyland, with over half (54%) of respondents indicating so. Meanwhile, one in four children noted the decorations and lights, while around 9% mentioned the Christmas tree.
The average spend per visit per person was recorded to be €77.65; individual spending numbers ranged from less than €20 to over €1,000. Just over one tenth (11%) of respondents spent €100 or more each time they went to Valletta last December.
Survey participants said that having a nice Christmas atmosphere around the city last December was very important to them. When asked to mark this on a scale from one to five, with one meaning “not important” and five meaning “very important,” 65.8% marked 5; the average mark was 4.5.
In comparison to December 2024, 53% of people thought that the decorations, lights, and the Christmas tree improved. 27% felt that nothing got better, while just 6% felt a “more lively energy.”
When asked what they would like to see different in Christmas this year, the most common response, with 27%, was nothing. The second most common response was “I don’t know” – with 13.7%. A tenth of people called for better lights and decorations, another 8.5% desire a more organised Christmas market, and 7.9% wish for better crowd control.
From the third of respondents who did not go to Valletta last December, most of those who didn’t go said that they stayed in because they are elderly and cannot go out. This represented over a quarter (26.7%) of those who did not visit Valletta in December 2025. Other said that there were too many people for them to go (15%), that Valletta is too busy (11.6%), that they did not feel the need to go (9.7%), and that they were sick (9.4%).
9% of people who did not to go to Valletta last December said that they abstained from visiting due to concerns that they wouldn’t manage to find any parking.
When asked what could entice this demographic to visit Valletta next December or in any other future visit, 43.2% responded “nothing.” An additional 26% of people were unsure, 6.7% said Valletta must be less crowded, and just under 5% said they’ll be enticed if more activities are offered.
More than half of businesses in Valletta observed better business performance last December
In the second survey carried out by Marmara, 51.5% of businesses in Valletta observed improved business performance between December 2025 and December 2024. From this query, 42.6% of businesses said business performance reached the same levels last December as the previous one, while 5.9% noted worse business performance.
56.7% of Valletta’s businesses recorded higher customer footfall in December 2025, compared with December 2024. 28.4% said they served the same number of customers, and 14.9% noticed a decrease.
Over 44% of businesses in Valletta said that average spend per customer was higher this past Christmas period than 2024’s. Overall, 38.8% noticed a difference in customer spending levels – either more or less – than the prior December.
When asked if any changes in consumer behaviour were seen, most businesses (55.2%) answered that they received more tourists and foreign clients.
Most businesses believe that the VCA’s Christmas in the Capital was beneficial to their performance. When asked to scale this answer between numbers one to five – with “1” meaning it “did not help at all” and “5” on the other end – the average answer amalgamated was 3.5. Nearly half of respondents marked “3”; under a third marked “4”; and just under 15% marked a positive “5.” 7.4% marked “2,” leaving no responses that it did not boost their performance whatsoever.
In response to these survey results, VCA chairman Jason Micallef said that it would be positive for the VCA to carry out these kinds of surveys for the entire 12 months in a calendar year, rather than just comparing December periods.
“We should have done more of these kinds of surveys in the past,” Micallef said, “They give responses to negative comments that are mentioned in light of the capital – that it’s too busy and that there is too much economic activity. It is not true.”
Micallef stated that people are spending more thanks to the government’s increased investment in the cultural sector, which includes all VCA activities.
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