Cruise passenger traffic down 3.3% in November

Cruise passenger embarking and landing in Malta reached 2,052 and 2,283 respectively. On the other hand, the number of visitors in transit declined by 9.0%, and stood at 42,654. The majority of cruise passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket (22,500), and amounted to 47.9% of the total. During the month under review, female passengers outnumbered males by 3,661 and totalled 25,325 (53.9%).

Albeit increases in the German and British markets, visitors from EU countries dropped by 11.9 per cent to 32,800. With 9,112 passengers, Germany remained the largest of the EU markets. Visitors from Italy were a close second and stood at 8,981. The number of passengers from Non-EU Member States reached 14,189 - up by 24.8% over 2010. The majority of Non-EU cruise passengers came from the United States and amounted to 6,548.

During this eleven-month period, total cruise passengers advanced to 540,827, an increase of 15.8% over last year. From there, 78.5% came from EU Member States. Most EU visitors came from Germany (150,200) and Italy (104,749). The German market recorded the largest increase in passengers (77,624) when compared to the corresponding period last year. Passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 116,348, with 41.3% registered as US nationals.

The majority of cruise passengers were aged between 40 and 59, and numbered 187,025. These were followed by the 60-79 age bracket, standing at 161,119. Male passengers amounted to 263,588, while females counted 277,239. In total, there were 303 cruise liner calls over the last eleven months, 40 more than last year.