Cruise passenger traffic for third quarter down by 22.9% - NSO

The total cruise passenger traffic to Malta dropped by 22.9% to 171,279 for the summer months, according to a report issued by the National Statistics Office.

The report said that there were a total of 101 cruise liner calls in the period from July to September, down from the 113 which Malta hosted last year.

Transit passengers accounted for the vast majority of total traffic, reaching 144,148 - or 84.2 %. Of these, 993 passengers visited Gozo.

Visitors from EU Member States accounted for 75.6 % of total traffic, with the majority originating from the British, German or Italian markets. On the other hand, the total number of passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 41,750, of whom 43.5 % were US nationals. An increase in the British, Japanese, Australian and American markets was recorded, despite the decrease in total traffic.

At 91,040, female passengers made up 53.2 % of the total while, at 34.9 %, the largest share of passengers fell within the 40-59-year-old age bracket. These were followed by those aged between 60 and 79, with a share of 31 %.

During the first nine months of the year, the number of cruise passengers dropped by 27.9 % when compared to the corresponding period last year. Of these, 75.7 % came from EU Member States. The sharpest drops were recorded from the German and Italian markets, which fell by 41,072 and 30,578 passengers respectively.

Female passengers numbered 165,811 and were in the majority. Most of the cruise passengers were between 60 and 79 years old, amounting to 111,196. These were followed by passengers aged 40-59, totaling 103,626.

In the nine months from January to September, there were 194 cruise liner calls, with an average 1,601 passengers per vessel. The average number of passengers per vessel also went down by 208 when compared to last year.