EFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) statistics for 2018 published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported a sustained level of language student arrivals, in comparison to 2017, which was a fairly positive year for the sector. In 2018 arrivals reached more than 87,000 students, 13.5% higher than 2016 levels.
Student weeks, on the other hand, were down 11.9% as a result of shorter stays resulting primarily from a shift in student mix, with junior students accounting for 53% of total student arrivals (vs 52% in 2017, 50% in 2016 and 48% in 2015). Consequently, the average length of stay fell to 17.3 days in 2018 from 20.9 days in 2016.
The sector today attracts students from countries which are not traditional tourist source markets for Malta, such as Brazil, Japan, Colombia and Turkey; with length of stays typically extending more than 30 days. In 2018 these non-traditional markets accounted for around 28% of total students weeks registered by the industry.
Italy, France and Germany remain top source markets for the ELT sector in Malta with a 32% share of all student weeks registered during 2018.
The annual FELTOM (Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations Malta)survey was carried out by Deloitte, Malta. Further details and figures are included in the key highlights report,dt_mt_elt_highlights_2018