Gozo ferry traffic down 11 per cent

The number of passengers who crossed between Malta and Gozo declined sharply in the first quarter when compared to the same three months last year, although Easter in April instead of March had a bearing on the figures.

Latest official statistics show that the number of passengers was down by 11.1 per cent to 711,265. The number of vehicles carried by scheduled vessels also went down by 5.3 per cent, to 220,018.

The figures, and others released yesterday showing a decline in airport passenger movements, are the latest indicators of a slowdown in economic activity after both the National Statistics Office and Eurostat recently confirmed that Malta entered a recession in the last two quarters of 2008.

In the last quarter, March saw the highest number of commuters and vehicles making the crossing between the two islands: 267,090 and 78,333 respectively.

However, the figure would have been suppressed by the fact that Easter, traditionally a time when thousands of Maltese take a break in Gozo, fell in April and not in March as it did last year.

The number of trips made by the ferries in the first quarter was of 4,649, a drop of 1.7 per cent over the comparable period last year. The highest number of trips was recorded in March: 1,585 or 34.1 per cent of the total number of trips for the period under review.