August cruise passenger arrivals drop

Cruise passenger arrivals last month dropped 9.2 per cent to 52,816 when compared to August 2009, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Passengers in transit totalled 50,203; passengers starting their cruise in Malta reached 1,290.

Most cruise passengers were from EU countries and totalled 41,582. Non-EU passengers amounted to 11,234.

The main European markets were Italy, Germany and Spain, similarly to last year. Decreases were recorded in all these markets. Non-EU markets recorded an increase of 16 per cent in passengers. Most of these passengers hailed from the US, and made up 53.9 per cent of total non-EU passengers.

Total cruise passengers for the past eight months totalled 308,663, up by 24 per cent when compared with last year.