Drop in cruise line passengers

Total cruise passenger traffic last month amounted to 6,166, a drop of 9,275 passengers over the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Embarkations and landings were practically nil.

Total cruise passenger traffic during the January to March period amounted to 10,823, a decrease of 45.6 per cent over the same period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 91.1 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Germany, Spain and Italy.

On a gender basis, male passengers exceeded female ones by 26 per cent. The largest proportion of passengers, 38.4 per cent was made up of persons aged between 60 and 79, followed by those in the 40-59 age bracket who accounted for 31.6 per cent of the total.

There were four cruise liner calls, bringing the number of calls for the first three months to six.