Fourth quarter increase in visits to Gozo - NSO

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the number of commuters visiting Gozo during the final quarter of 2012 was up by 1.6% in comparison to the corresponding quarter in 2011. A total of 901,260 people made the trip between Malta and Gozo.

The highest number of commuters was recorded in October - 356,859, or 39.6 % of the total for the quarter. The number of vehicles carried by scheduled vessels was up by 0.8%, totalling 249,154.

The number of trips in the period under review stood at 4,612, a drop of 1.7% over the corresponding period in 2011.The majority of trips also took place in October - 1,569 or 34% of total trips for the quarter.

On an annual basis, 2012 saw a drop in the number of vehicles, commuters and trips between Malta and Gozo.

Overall, the number of trips went down by 301, or 1.5%, over 2011. The number of commuters decreased by 32,402, or 0.8%, over the previous year, while the total number of vehicles carried between Malta and Gozo went down by 24,035, or 2.2%.

August retained the same trend observed in previous years with the highest number of trips - 1,824 or 9.3% of total trips. August also registered the largest share of vehicles and commuters between the two islands - 123,511 and 479,951 respectively.