Slight increase in cruise passengers

The number of cruise passengers in April stood at 37,787, an increase of 605 over the same month in 2006, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Embarkations from and landings in Malta in April stood at 575 and 559 persons, respectively.

From January to April the total cruise passenger traffic in Malta amounted to 57,666, an increase of 1.7 per cent over the same period last year. Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 90.9 per cent of the total traffic, the main markets being Germany, France and Italy. On a gender basis, total traffic was almost on a par. The largest proportion of passengers - 35.8 per cent - consisted of persons aged between 60 and 79, followed by those in the 40-59 age bracket who accounted for 32.2 per cent of the total.

The number of cruise liner calls went down by nine when compared to the same month in 2006. Total calls for the first four months of the year numbered 50 compared to 63 in the corresponding period of last year.