Cruise passengers to Malta up 7% in 2017

Cruise passengers staying overnight last year almost doubled, as did the number of passengers who visited Gozo, figures out on Monday show.

There were almost 41,000 passengers who stayed overnight in 2017, up from 22,500 the previous year. Overnight stays have long been considered an important development to the cruise industry in Malta.

Similarly, the National Statistics Office reported that the number of passengers who visited Gozo more than doubled to 14,500 last year.

These figures form part of the overall positive picture that saw cruise passengers increase by 7% last year.

According to the NSO, 670,135 cruise passengers visited Malta, with 71% coming from other EU countries.

There were 342 cruise liner calls in 2017, with an average of 1,959 passengers per vessel. In 2016, there were 316 cruise liner visits.

There were more women passengers than men (356,802 against 313,333) while most passengers were aged between 60 and 79. The next largest cohort of passengers was aged between 40 and 59.