Cruise liner passengers up by 56% in third quarter

The Grand Harbour hosted 108 cruise liners in the third quarter, 11 more than last year, with passenger traffic increasing by 56% to 348,268, figures out today show.

The floating cities that berthed in Malta carried an average of 3,225 passengers each, 921 more than last year, the National Statistics Office said on Monday.

Transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 291,216 (84%).

Passengers from EU member states comprised 60% of total traffic, the NSO said. The major markets were Italy, accounting for 25% of passengers, followed by Germany (12%).

Passengers from non-EU countries stood at 140,544, of whom 41% came from the UK and 29% from the US.
Female passengers made up 53% of the total. The largest share of passengers fell within the 40-59 age bracket (37%) and were followed by those aged between 0 and 19 years (22%).

January-September 2023

During the first nine months of the year, total cruise passengers stood at 645,567 of which 58% came from EU member states.

The majority of the passengers were women and most passengers were between 40 and 59 years old. A quarter of passengers were aged between 60 and 79.

There were 227 cruise liner calls during the first three quarters of 2023, with an average of 2,844 passengers per vessel, compared to 222 calls and an average of 1,739 passengers per vessel in the comparative period of 2022.