Cruise passenger traffic last month dropped by 5.7 per cent to reach 52,049, the NSO said today.
The number of passengers who embarked from and landed in Malta stood at 3,327 and 4,275
respectively. The remaining 44,447 passengers were in transit.

Female passengers comprised 51.1per cent of total traffic, at 26,601. Most passengers were in the 40-59 age bracket (37.4 per cent), followed by the 0-19 category, at 13,364.

The number of passengers from EU countries stood at 44,427 whereas those from non-EU countries amounted to 7,622.

As in previous years, the main European markets were Italy and Germany, while the Spanish market registered a decrease. Passengers from non-EU markets were on a downward trend, showing a decrease of 32.1 per cent in comparison with 2009, the NSO said.

January-July 2010

Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta in this period stood at 255,847, up by 34.2 per cent when compared to last year. This was mainly brought about abour by more visitors from EU countries, with Italy and France registering the strongest growth. Non-EU passengers stood at 48,574, a drop of 12.8 per cent over the comparative period in 2009. During these seven months, 135 cruise liners visited the Islands.

Viset, the cruise terminal operator, last month said it expected traffic to drop in the summer, but Malta would end the year with an increase of about 10 per cent in cruise passenger traffic compared to last year.