Category: Mediterranean low cost

By Daiva Repečkaitė, Julian Bonnici and Sabrina Zammit
Photo credit: Joanna Demarco

• Tourism has more than doubled in a decade. Now at 3.5 million a year, or an average of 62,000 extra people per day.
• Today, there are more than 9,300 active listings on Airbnb.
• Short-term rentals now make up a third of the tourist accommodation market.
• The market generates an estimated €47 million over a year.
• Sliema’s Airbnb market is the largest, worth €7.3 million, followed by St Julian’s (€5 million) and St Paul’s Bay (€3.8 million).
• In Valletta alone, 1 in 6 homes is part of the tourism market. In tourism hotspots, like Sliema, Gżira and others, that number is now at 1 in 10.
• Nearly 200 clusters where multiple short-lets are concentrated in a single building or street.
• Four main arteries in Sliema, Tower Road, The Strand, Triq Robert Arrigo, and Triq Manwel Dimech, host 401 Airbnb listings.
• Local councils report mounting complaints over waste, noise, vandalism, and safety, while revenues eclipse budgets.

Malta now boasts more than 9,300 active listings on Airbnb alone, a figure that underscores just how deeply short-term rentals have reshaped the island’s housing landscape, with some localities carrying a disproportionate share of the burden.

Amphora Media’s latest investigation, carried out with support from Journalismfund Europe and in collaboration with Centro di Giornalismo Permanente, analysed data collected from Airbnb and provided by an activist-led platform, Inside Airbnb, to offer a closer look at a booming industry reshaping Malta’s tourism accommodation sector and fuelling growing tensions within residential communities.

Malta’s tourism, one of the seven priority sectors promoted by the government, has doubled in a decade. The number of visitors has soared from around 1.6 million in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2024, equivalent to an extra 62,000 people in the country every day.

Accommodating this surge has pushed thousands to convert private residences into tourist lets. According to NSO, in 2024, the number of tourists staying in ‘other rental accommodation’, under which short-lets fall, exceeded a million.

It now accounts for 33% of the total market, and the figure is growing. The number of tourists staying at hotels and other collective accommodation has also increased over the period, but their share has dropped by 10% over the last five years.

The market can be highly lucrative. Inside Airbnb data reveals that Malta-based listings generate an estimated €47.3 million annually.

Yet, most of the money fails to reach the localities and communities.

For example, estimates based on Inside Airbnb’s data show that the Airbnb market in Sliema, one of the localities overburdened by tourism, generates an estimated revenue of over €7.3 million – dwarfing the 2024 Sliema local council’s annual budget of around €1.6 million. The 2024 budget for local councils was €48.4 million across 68 localities.

The strain is being felt at the community level. 

From waste to noise complaints, alleged vandalism and fears over public safety, frustrations are mounting, with residents in Swieqi even taking to the streets in protest.

“Malta has a reputation abroad as a place where everyone does what they want – everyone smokes cannabis, everyone breaks things – that’s the reputation Malta has,” says St Julian’s mayor Guido Dalli.

“[Short lets are] the most difficult thing, not only in Marsaskala, but around Malta,” Marsaskala mayor Mario Calleja told Amphora. In 2022, his local council was receiving 16 weekly complaints about rubbish on average. 

“And why do we have these mishaps? The owners of these apartments do not inform tourists of the proper days to dispose of waste. They just take it out on whatever day. This is the most common problem for local councils.”

In response to parliamentary questions about Airbnbs disrespecting municipal waste collection schedules, Owen Bonnici, in charge of local government, replied with promises to distribute information stickers and increase enforcement.

Swieqi: A residential neighbourhood transformed

“If residents are happy, tourists will come,” says veteran hospitality expert Marie Avellino. But protests, petitions and media reporting about locals’ grievances show that for many locals, mingling with tourists is less than a happy experience.

Even the government’s tourism 2021-2030 strategy acknowledges that the “signs of uneasiness by local residents having to cohabit with tourists accommodated in residential apartment blocks or similar” is one of the ‘areas of concern’ 

Swieqi, once a quiet residential suburb neighbouring St Julian’s, has morphed into a hotspot for short-term rentals, a byproduct of its proximity to Paceville, Malta’s nightlife capital, which has gained notoriety online for clips of rowdy tourist behaviour. 

Over a third of Swieqi listings mention Paceville in their description. Some listings even warn that the proximity to Paceville makes the place unsuitable for families and older people.

Airbnb did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions about these developments.

Our analysis shows 432 active Airbnb listings in Swieqi, accounting for approximately 6% of all livable residences in the area. That figure excludes other platforms such as Booking.com, for which we could not obtain comparable data. 

Davcar Developments Ltd, whose brand is Holiday Letting Malta, is a major player, with 80 active listings, 62 in Swieqi. 360 Group comes next with 24 properties in Swieqi, but their estimated revenues are the largest, approaching €99,000 in Swieqi alone.

Cross-checking the numbers with Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) records suggests that, by conservative estimates, more than 9% of Swieqi rentals are unlicensed.

In August, weeks before a protest over the issue took place, an activist who asked to be called JC reached out to Booking.com and Airbnb to complain about suspicious listings and the negative impact of short-lets.

In response to our questions, Booking.com said, “In the very rare instance that we are made aware of any unlawful behaviour taking place at a property listed on our site – including house parties – we investigate thoroughly, cooperate with local authorities or law enforcement, and when necessary block the customer account from our platform.”

“We also have a solid process in place for authorities to report any concerns, taking swift action to remove properties if they are found not to be operating in compliance with local laws.”

MTA did not reply to Amphora Media’s questions.

Valletta: built by gentlemen, housed for short lets

The rise of short-term rentals has reshaped neighbourhoods while directly draining the supply of homes available to residents.

Historically, tourist accommodation in Malta concentrated along the coast, as tour operators channelled their sun-seeking clients for standard-length holidays at beachside hotels.

However, in 2006, low-cost airlines began operating in Malta, attracting city break seekers. To keep up with the demand, short-term rentals have soared, now comprising a third of the market.

In Valletta, Malta’s state and cultural capital, nearly 570 properties are listed on Airbnb, meaning around one in six liveable homes in the city is now part of the tourism market.

According to official statistics, Valletta is in second place in terms of tourism intensity, with its effective population in 2023 nearly doubling.

This is mainly driven by tourists. Census data shows that as of 2023, Valletta has just over 5,000 residents, smaller than what it was in 2013. A fifth of them are over 70 years of age.

The five largest operators have 130 listings among them.

VREM Ltd has the largest portfolio in Valletta, with an estimated annual revenue of around €108,000 from the city. Valletta Vintage emerged as the highest earner, estimated to generate over €324,000 per year with just 10 listings.

The combined revenue of the top 10 earners from Airbnb exceeds the 2024 allocation to the Valletta local council from the central government.

“The private sector is proliferating in residential zones, which is clashing with the community,” says Valletta resident Billy McBee, who founded Residenti Beltin and unsuccessfully ran for the last local elections with this movement.

“I remember a time when we used to have good quality tourists. I mean, very respectful ones, they used to leave tips, they used to go for retail, but the quality kind, you know, they never gave any problems to anyone. Nowadays, you get horrible quality tourists.”

“Waste management is quite an issue. If the private sector truly honours the private collection, then there wouldn’t be any problem. But during summer, you’ve got pests, cockroaches, rats, smells, and liquids. These are really, literally getting out of hand,” he says.

In 2024, 44 waste contraventions were issued in Valletta, and three resulted in court cases. Valletta’s budget for waste disposal and refuse collection was €120,000 in 2024.

We asked 12 major operators about their approach to licensing, neighbourhood disturbance policy, and waste management. None of them replied.

“You have nightlife, without ensuring enforcement,” McBee continued. “They [policymakers] keep adding so many things to the pot, which is now boiling. People are getting fed up. Valletta is not managing its infrastructure, like energy, electrical waste management, drainage system, and traffic.”

MTA did not reply to questions about licensing so many short lets in Valletta.

Sliema, St Julian’s, Gżira and St Paul’s Bay: Localities overwhelmed

Swieqi and Valletta, however, are far from the worst affected. Sliema tops the list with 1,268 Airbnb properties, followed by St Paul’s Bay with 1,007 and St Julian’s with 947. The next highest concentrations are in Gżira (684) and Valletta (569).

In Gżira, Sliema and St Julian’s, roughly one in ten liveable homes is now listed on Airbnb.

Estimates from Inside Airbnb data show that Sliema’s Airbnb market is the largest, worth €7.3 million. Airbnb listings are estimated to generate around €5 million in St Julian’s and €3.8 million in St Paul’s Bay.

The numbers also reveal heavy clustering. In nearly 200 cases, multiple listings are concentrated within the same location, suggesting that operators may run residential buildings as de facto hotels, but with fewer regulations or oversight than traditional accommodation providers must follow.

St Julian’s, Sliema and St Paul’s Bay top that list with 69, 68, and 68 listings in such clusters, respectively.

The concentration of short-term rentals is starkest at street level. In Sliema alone, four main arteries, Tower Road, The Strand, Triq Robert Arrigo and Triq Manwel Dimech, account for 401 listings between them.

Tower Road tops the national list with 145 Airbnbs, followed by The Strand with 114. Similar patterns emerge elsewhere: Triq d’Argens in Gżira hosts 70, while St Julian’s has three streets, Ġorġ Borġ Olivier, St George and Triq Spinola, each exceeding 50 listings.

Gżira Mayor Neville Chetcuti warns that, similar to Valletta, there is a larger transformation of his locality set in action.

“It’s an ageing population in Gżira. There aren’t many young people, obviously, because every place is being demolished and rebuilt into hotels or flats or guesthouses. So they move out of here, and the number keeps going down,” he told Amphora Media.

A Battle on Two Fronts: Poor Enforcement In Communities Facing Overtourism And Overpopulation

Many localities facing the burden of over-tourism are facing challenges from a ballooning population, despite significant gaps in enforcement.

St Julian’s and Swieqi fall under the same police district, yet between 2013 and 2025, the number of officers assigned there fell by four despite the locality being under “very high risk” of crime. This decline comes despite a sharp rise in demand: police reports in the district increased by 2,670, from 5,937 in 2020 to 8,607 in 2024.

Meanwhile, across Malta, the number of noise complaint reports has increased over the years, climbing from 341 in 2021 to 473 in 2024. 

Nowhere is the strain felt more than in Paceville. Despite being Malta’s nightlife hub, notorious on social media for clips of drunken brawls, vandalism and public urination, it has no police station of its own.

Instead, the St Julian’s station and Swieqi officers serve as first points of contact for those requiring police intervention in the area.

The government has refused to disclose exactly how many officers are deployed in Paceville. Replying to a parliamentary question in May, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said only that numbers “vary according to the need and particular circumstances”, noting that patrols there include district and community police as well as the Rapid Intervention Unit.

He also promised that a CCTV network for Paceville would finally be operational by next summer.

Valletta, which has become its own entertainment hub in the years before and following V18, faces similar shortages. Police numbers in its district fell by 32 between 2013 and 2025, even as incident reports to the police rose by 797 between 2020 and 2024.

Sliema, Gżira and Msida, grouped together in Police District 7, are also under strain. The district, which combines dense residential areas with heavy tourist inflows, has 67 officers in total. 

With a total population of 49,000, that means there’s one officer for every 731 residents. According to Euronews, the EU had an average of 341 police officers per 100,000 people, or one officer every 293 residents.

In response to parliamentary questions about Airbnbs disrespecting municipal waste collection schedules, Owen Bonnici, in charge of local government, replied with promises to increase enforcement for those disposing of waste on the wrong day.

“I’m not saying Maltese don’t litter, because they do as well, but the majority for sure are tourists. Especially those in short lets, they’re the ones who cause the most problems,” Gżira mayor Neville Chetcuti told Amphora Media.

Tourism researcher Avellino cautions against blaming tourists for the waste problem when the door-to-door collection system confuses them. 

“Imagine that as a tourist, I don’t know what to do with the garbage bag. I walk along the streets and see garbage bags outside. ‘Ah, that’s what people do there! Okay, I will do the same.’ And they think they’re doing a good thing,” she said.

Tourism’s growth “places stress on key resources”, Deloitte acknowledged in a carrying capacity study, published in 2022. “Already at 2019 tourism levels, tourists’ and residents’ satisfaction were impacted by excess volume,” the study’s authors noted.

“Key issues impacting both residents and tourists (to varying degrees) include traffic, littering, waste management, poor urban environment (overcrowding, overdevelopment and uglification) and the lack of authenticity of experience,” Deloitte noted. In response to the negative effects, there are increasing calls to calculate touristic locations’ carrying capacity again. 

Avellino warns that this may not be a silver bullet.

“Carrying capacity changes. It’s not like you’ve got an apartment with three bedrooms, therefore the carrying capacity of that apartment is six persons.”

She says that coming up with an objective figure of how much tourism the islands can sustain is very difficult, and even if it could be done, it may upset some:

“Governments and politicians traditionally went by volume. So if the carrying capacity exercise had to be done – and it’s very complex to do it – and all of a sudden the carrying capacity, for example, turns out to be two million tourists – it hurts them.”

This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.