Cruise liner passengers drop in October

Cruise passenger traffic in Malta accounted for 58,186 persons last month, a decrease of  1,530, or 2.6 per cent over the same month in 2006, the NSO said. Embarkations from and landings in Malta in this month stood at 1,299 and 1,223 persons respectively.

During the first 10 months of 2007, total cruise passenger traffic amounted to 425,891, an increase of 17.0 per cent over the same period last year. Same-day visitors from EU
countries accounted for 83.7 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Spain, and Germany. The American market remained substantial, representing more than half
of the non-EU incoming passengers. The growth was underpinned by increases from the Spanish and Italian markets.

On a gender basis, male passengers exceeded female ones by 1.8 per cent. The largest proportion of passengers - 34.6 per cent - were aged between 40 and 59 years, followed by those in the 60-79 age bracket who accounted for 24.3 per cent of the total.