Malta's eco-contribution has changed twice in six months. It tripled from €0.50 to €1.50 per person per night on 1 July 2026. In the Budget 2027 speech, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced that it is set to rise again from 1 January 2027, and this time the rate depends on what kind of accommodation the guest stays in. The new rates still have to be enacted by legal notice, so treat them as announced rather than final until that happens.
If you run short lets in Malta or Gozo, this is the largest change to guest charges since the eco-contribution was introduced. Here is what we know so far, what it means for your bookings, and what to do before January.
The new rates at a glance
| Now (since 1 July 2026) | From 1 January 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels and collective accommodation | €1.50 per person per night | €8 per person per night |
| Short-let apartments and holiday homes | €1.50 per person per night | €10 per person per night |
| Cap per person per visit | €22.50 (15 nights) | €64 hotels / €80 short lets (8 nights) |
| Who pays | Guests aged 18+ | Guests aged 18+ |
| English-language school students | Pay | Exempt |
The government expects the revised accommodation rates to raise about €182 million a year.
Two other charges were announced alongside it, though they don't affect accommodation providers:
- €10 for cruise passengers who get off in Malta and re-board the same ship. Cruises that start in Malta are exempt.
- €5 for non-resident visitors to Comino, paid through the Blue Lagoon booking system.
Three things that matter most for hosts
1. Short lets now pay more than hotels
Until now there has been a single rate for all licensable accommodation. From January, a guest in a holiday apartment pays €2 more per night than a guest in a hotel. If your listings are licensed as short lets, use the €10 rate, not the €8 one quoted in many headlines.
2. The cap now kicks in after 8 nights, not 15
Both new caps work out to exactly 8 nights: €8 × 8 = €64 and €10 × 8 = €80. Under the current rules, the €22.50 cap applies after 15 nights. In practice, almost every holiday stay over a week will now hit the cap. Stays of 9 nights or more pay the same as a stay of 8.
3. The amount per booking is much larger
Per-person, per-night charges add up quickly. Here is what a few typical short-let stays would pay:
| Stay | Today | From 1 Jan 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| 2 adults, 4 nights | €12.00 | €80.00 |
| 2 adults + 2 children (under 18), 7 nights | €21.00 | €140.00 |
| 4 adults, 7 nights | €42.00 | €280.00 |
| 2 adults, 14 nights | €42.00 | €160.00 (capped at 8 nights) |
When the charge was €1.50, hosts could round it off or absorb it. At €280 for a group week, that's no longer realistic. Guests will notice it, and a host who doesn't collect it will feel it.
What hasn't been confirmed yet
The Budget sets out the policy, but the Eco Contribution Act (Cap. 473) and the MTA guidelines still need to be amended. Until they are published, these questions are open:
- Bookings made before 1 January for stays after it. The current MTA guidelines say the contribution is due per night when the accommodation is made available to the guest. If that wording stays, the night of the stay, not the booking date, decides the rate. That means a guest who booked in October for a February stay would pay €10 a night. Treat that as the working assumption and check the final guidelines when they're published.
- Stays that span New Year. Following the same logic, nights up to 31 December would be charged at €1.50 and nights from 1 January at the new rate. How the cap applies across the split is not yet clear.
- Multi-centre visits. Currently, a guest who moves between properties can carry their cap from one to the next if they show the previous receipt. We expect this to continue under the new caps.
- Which category applies to borderline properties, such as guesthouses and boutique hotels in converted townhouses. Your MTA licence class should decide this.
We'll update this post as soon as the amended guidelines are out.
What hasn't changed
- The licence holder is still liable. You can have a manager or operator collect the contribution for you. Unless the MTA has been formally notified of a delegation, the legal responsibility stays with the person named on the licence.
- Guests are assumed to be 18+ unless you have a passport, ID card or birth certificate that shows otherwise. Keep that evidence on file for every child exemption.
- The contribution is shown separately on the fiscal receipt. It isn't part of the accommodation price, so don't fold it into the nightly rate.
- Returns and payments go through the MHRA, or whichever body the MTA directs.
A checklist for hosts before January
- Check your licence category for each property: short let or collective accommodation. This sets your rate.
- Update your house rules and listing descriptions. Guests booking 2027 stays should see “€10 per adult per night, up to €80” before they arrive, not when they check in.
- Look at your 2027 bookings that are already confirmed. Pre-arrival messages for those guests should state the new amount.
- Find out whether your channel collects it. If Airbnb, Booking.com or another OTA collects the contribution for you, check that they apply the 2027 rate. If no one collects it, plan how you will.
- Collect guest ages before arrival. With €80 per adult now at stake, an under-18 exemption is worth recording properly.
- Don't hard-code the rate. It has changed twice in one year already.
How Levio handles this
Levio keeps Malta's eco-contribution as a versioned rule rather than a fixed number. Each rule has a start date, an end date, a rate, a night cap and an age exemption. When the new rates take effect, we will:
- End the current €1.50 rule on 31 December 2026 and add the 2027 rule from 1 January.
- Apply the 8-night cap automatically for each guest.
- Price synced 2027 reservations against the new rule, so you can see the balance per booking before guests arrive.
- Bill guests for what the OTA didn't collect through a Stripe payment link, paid straight into your own account.
- Keep an audit trail of which rule priced each stay, which is useful if the MHRA asks about a period that spans the rate change.
We'll publish the updated rule as soon as the MTA confirms the final guidelines. Not on Levio yet? Create a workspace and connect Hostaway, Hostfully or Lodgify.
This article reflects the Budget 2027 announcement (October 2026) and the MTA's guidelines in force since 1 July 2026. It is general information, not legal or tax advice. The final rules depend on the amending legislation and the MTA's updated guidelines.
Sources: Malta Tourism Authority, Guidelines on the Eco Contribution due in respect of the Provision of Licensable Accommodation (2026); KPMG Malta, Malta Budget 2027; TVMnews; Newsbook.