 The volatility of the Maltese tourism market in the past has been largely due to trends in the preferences of tourists from the United Kingdom , who comprise Malta 's largest tourism market . Although Malta 's uniform use of English , its traditional ties to the United Kingdom and low @-@ cost travel options have made it an attractive option to British tourists , changing preferences of these tourists can impact Malta 's tourism income quite significantly . For example , the increasing preference of British tourists for Spanish destinations during the 1980s was reflected in a drop in Malta 's tourism numbers during that period . 
