Drop in cruise passenger arrivals continues
The decrease in the number of cruise passengers coming to Malta continued last month, with a 22 per cent drop in arrivals, according to NSO statistics issued this morning.
It said that 56,607 persons came to Malta on cruise ships in October, a decrease of 16,114 over the corresponding month in 2008.
During October the number of embarkations from and landings in Malta stood at 1,934 and 1,878 persons respectively.
Passengers from EU countries made up for 75.2 per cent of the total traffic, with the main markets being Italy, France and Germany.
On the other hand, same-day visitors from the United Kingdom and Spain recorded drops during the month under review, when compared to October 2008. January-October 2009.
Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta this year to October amounted to 367,370, a decrease of 26.0 per cent over the comparative period last year. Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 75.1 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Cruise passengers coming from EU countries registered a drop of 28.6 per cent with significant drops being recorded in the Spanish, British and Italian markets.
The American market remained substantial representing 57.0 per cent of the non-EU incoming passengers. On a gender basis, female passengers exceeded male ones by 8.1 per cent. The largest proportion of passengers - 33.5 per cent - comprised persons aged between 40 and 59, followed by those in the 60 to 79 age bracket who accounted for 28.9 per cent of the total.
There were 43 cruise liner calls in October, with a total of 219 calls since January 2009 - a decrease of 38.8 per cent with respect to the previous year.
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Harry Web @@
Nov 18th 2009, 19:48
All i can say is be thankful for any amount of tourism , Malta is not the only country feeling the pinch regardless of the thousands of euros spent on advertising, we are in the worse recession ever, so just grin and bear it till things start to pick up again, but not next year, and i think maybe we shall not see the boom days of recent years pity really, cause we have a good product, maybe the FIm industry will benefit us more for advertising this country then the silly eurovison contest (thats flogging a DEAD HORSE). in my way of think cause i might be wrong, but the last three years proved me to be correct.
C.Formosa
Nov 18th 2009, 14:30
@MrBartolo;
Some people will never see any light, only perpetual darkness and gloom.
It comes from being fed relentlessly with negative opinions and never having anything good to say about anything.
C. Bartolo
Nov 18th 2009, 12:55
@Harry Web:
What you actually read was correct; but it did not deal with the number of passengers but rather with the number of cruise-liners that were seen in the grand harbour. On that day I had commented that it shouldn't be about the number of cruise-liners in the port but about the amount of people that are being brought over.
This article is proof of what I had said as the amount of tourists continue to drop despite the country being told that the tourism sector from cruise-liners is about to pick up. With a decrease in people, in cruise-liner calls and most probably also in monay spent in Malta, it is no wonder that this country is at a loss.
We want to see something serious being done about the tourism sector. As Dr. Muscat said in his counter budget speech - this sector needs to be given special attention as a lot of people know their bread and butter from it. Not enough is being done and the tourism sector participants will feel even more let down after reading this bit of news.
Anybody see a light at the end of the tunnel??
Harry Web
Nov 18th 2009, 11:48
i don't believe this, only a few days ago in this very same Paper the times, i read the opposite, whats going on,are these people the Maltese the full quid or what? why can't they get their fact right before going to press.