Cruise passenger traffic up 21 per cent

Cruise passenger traffic totalled 67,259 in June, an increase of 11,852 or 21.4 per cent over the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday. Embarkations from and landings in Malta stood at 1,661 and 1,438 respectively.

The total number of cruise passengers in the first six months this year amounted to 198,570, showing an addition of 20.5 per cent over the same period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 78.9 per cent of total traffic, with the main markets being Italy, Spain and Germany.

The American market remained substantial, representing 60.2 per cent of the non-EU incoming passengers.

The overall growth in traffic was underpinned by increases in the American, British and Spanish markets. At the same time, the cruise passenger scene was characterised by falls in the German and French markets, respectively by 8,854 and 2,378 passengers.

There were 50 cruise liner calls last month, bringing the total for the first six months of the year to 155 compared to 135 in the same period last year, the NSO said.