Beginning of 2018 sees decrease in cruise passengers visiting Malta

The start of 2018 saw a decrease in cruise passengers visiting Malta, statistics revealed.

The latest statistics issued by the NSO report that  the total cruise passenger traffic during the first quarter of 2018 amounted to 69,742, a decrease of 18.2% over the corresponding period in 2017.

There were 17 cruise liner calls during the first quarter of 2018, 17 less than the previous year. At 99.%, transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 69,624. On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 4,102 passengers, 1,596 more than the previous year.

Visitors from EU Member States comprised 65.7% of total traffic, the major markets being Italy, France, Germany and Spain. The total number of passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 23,932, a decrease of 12% over 2017. Non-EU passengers included Australians, Canadian, Japanese and American.

On a gender basis, female passengers made up 53.9% of this year’s total. Most passengers were aged between 60 and 79 (33.8 per cent), followed by those within the 40-59 age bracket (31.2 per cent).