Cruise passengers almost down by half compared to February 2010

The number of cruise passengers for this month stood at 6,195, of whom 6,185 were in transit.

The substantial decline was caused by notable decreases in the German and Italian markets of 86.1 per cent and 88.9 per cent respectively, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in a statement.

The majority of passengers fell within the 60-79 age group (3,109), while another 1,824 were between 40 and 59 years old.

Cruise passengers from non-EU countries outnumbered those coming from within the EU. The latter dropped by 70 per cent to 2,022.

There were 3 cruise liner calls in February, down by 2 vessels when compared to the corresponding month last year.

The total number of cruise passengers arriving in Malta during the months of January and February combined stood at 14,903, down by 27.1 per cent when compared to last year, mainly due to a substantial decrease of 7,120 passengers from the German market.

European cruise passengers came mostly from Italy and the UK, while non-EU passengers were mostly Americans.

The majority of passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket (5,780), followed by the 40-59 age group (4,617).