Here is the number that should frame every till decision you make in 2026: 67% of point-of-sale payments in Malta were still made in cash in 2024, the highest share of any country in the euro area, according to the European Central Bank's SPACE 2024 study. So when people ask whether we are heading toward a cashless Malta, the honest answer is: cards are winning fast, but cash is nowhere near dead.

That tension is exactly what a Valletta cafe owner or a Gozo market vendor has to manage. Below is the real data, followed by practical decisions about your till and your cash handling.

The data: card and contactless are growing fast

The direction of travel is not in doubt. In just two years, Malta's cash share at the till fell from 77% in 2022 to 67% in 2024, per the ECB's SPACE studies. Across the euro area, cash dropped from 59% to 52% of point-of-sale transactions over the same period, and cards now carry 45% of the value spent in shops.

Malta's own numbers show where card payments are strongest. According to the National Statistics Office's analysis of card payment habits:

60.1% of retail sales value went on card in 2024, rising to 65.5% at the largest supermarket chains.
Fuel stations lagged, with only around 30% paid by card.
Card activity is volatile but climbing, spiking 18% year-on-year in August 2025 to a monthly peak of €596 million.

A record 3.56 million tourists in 2024, up 19.5% on the year, poured card-first, contactless-first spending into the economy. The takeaway: card volume is rising sharply, and tourists expect to tap.

Why cash still matters in Malta

Do not read the trend as permission to go card-only. Malta remains structurally attached to cash, and the reasons are practical, not sentimental.

A Central Bank of Malta survey published in May 2025 found that 86% of residents still carry banknotes, and 85% expect to keep using cash over the next five years. Cash use also skews by age and place: 99% of over-64s carry cash versus 77% of 18-to-24s, and Gozo tops the country at 90%.

Three groups keep cash relevant for your business:

Older customers, who overwhelmingly still carry and prefer notes and coins.
Small vendors and markets, where card acceptance is thinner and habits are entrenched.
Tourists, who tap for coffee but often carry euro cash for small buys, tips, and street vendors.

The takeaway: for most Maltese businesses, going fully cashless would quietly turn away a real slice of paying customers.

The hidden cost of handling cash

Cash feels free because no processor takes a percentage. It is not free. The cost is hidden in your time, your accuracy, and your risk.

Think about a busy Sliema cafe on a Saturday. Every cash sale adds seconds at the till, and every shift ends with a manual count against the drawer. Consider what cash really costs you:

Time: counting floats, cashing up nightly, and preparing bank deposits.
Reconciliation: matching the drawer to sales, then to your books, with human error at every step.
Shrinkage: miscounts, incorrect change, and the plain risk of theft or loss.

None of this means refuse cash. It means the cost of cash should be measured, not ignored, and it should push you toward a till that makes counting and reconciling faster rather than slower. When you weigh your obligations, it also connects to how you handle receipts and fiscal records, covered in our guide to whether you still need a physical receipt in Malta.

What a modern till should do either way

Whichever way the cash-versus-card mix falls in your shop, the smart move is a till that handles both cleanly. You should not have to bet on the future when the right system serves cash and card equally well today.

A modern point-of-sale should give you:

Split tenders, so a €40 bill can be settled part cash, part card, on one receipt without maths at the counter.
Fast reconciliation, matching card settlements and cash counts to sales automatically at close.
Live reporting, showing your true cash-to-card ratio by day, hour, and location so you decide with data.
Malta-compliant records, tied correctly to your fiscal setup.

This is where cloud tools pull ahead of legacy hardware, a shift we cover in Cloud POS vs Traditional POS. A platform like Twine POS is built to record cash and card side by side and reconcile both without a spreadsheet. It also matters for compliance: understanding your fiscal printer versus EXO number obligations is easier when your till captures every tender type correctly.

The takeaway: the goal is not cashless, it is frictionless, for whichever payment your customer reaches for.

Getting ready without alienating cash customers

You can lean into card and contactless growth without hanging a "card only" sign that costs you sales. The move is to make electronic payment effortless while keeping cash welcome.

Practical steps for the year ahead:

Accept contactless everywhere, including your counter, terminals, and any delivery or online channel.
Keep a working cash drawer and train staff to give change quickly and count confidently.
Track your real mix so pricing, floats, and staffing follow evidence, not assumptions.
Reconcile daily in software, not on paper, to cut the hidden cost of cash.

If you sell through delivery apps, remember those orders are already cashless and should flow into the same reporting, which is why we built our Wolt and Bolt integration. Meet customers where they are: tap for the tourist, notes for the regular, one clean set of books for you.

The takeaway: readiness means flexibility, not exclusion.

Conclusion

Malta is moving toward cards fast, yet it remains the most cash-reliant country in the euro area, and most customers still expect to have the choice. Three things to hold onto: track your own cash-to-card mix rather than guessing, treat cash handling as a real cost you can shrink, and choose a till that serves both tenders equally well. Ready to see fast card reconciliation and split tenders on a single screen? Book a Twine POS demo and set your till up for a cashless-curious, cash-still-here Malta.