Record number of cruise liners at Grand Harbour

Eight cruise liners yesterday entered the Grand Harbour, establishing a record number of ships in harbour on any one day, and beating last year's record of seven ships.

The Valletta Waterfront and the areas around the cruise passenger terminal were a hive of activity. Over 70 coaches and mini-vans and 28 jeeps were busy from the early hours of the morning serving more than 7,250 visiting cruise passengers.

The public bus system was very popular among city goers with extra journeys taking place in between the scheduled trips in order to cater for the large number of passengers. Even a quick visit to Valletta and Mdina would have shown anyone that today was more than business-as-usual.

The cruise liner industry, which has experienced a growth of 63 per cent in terms of arriving passengers over the last three years, contributes about €93 million to Malta's GDP.

Christopher Paris, general manager of Viset Malta plc, operators and developers of Valletta Waterfront and the cruise passenger terminal, said that this steadily growing success should not be taken for granted and one should be careful from being too elated about such achievements.

Rather, all stakeholders involved should use this as a learning experience and look for new and better ways to achieve long-term sustainable growth for the country's economic and social benefit.