Cruise ship arrivals show recovery

Cruise passenger arrivals last month increased by 17.4 per cent over the same month last year.

The National Office of Statistics said that there were 52,181 cruise travellers during the month with 1,505 and 1,544 embarking from and landing in Malta, respectively.

Passengers from EU countries made up for 66.2 per cent of total traffic, with the main markets being Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Same day visitors from non-EU markets registered an increase of 22.2 per cent when compared to November last year, with the American market representing 57.7 per cent of total non-EU traffic.

But in spite of the November increases, there was an overall drop of 22.4 per cent of total passengers since January, which totalled 419,551.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 74 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Cruise passengers coming from EU countries decreased by 25.4 per cent with significant drops being recorded in the Spanish, British and Italian markets.

Increases were recorded in the German and French markets.