Tourist industry poised for record-breaking year

Two new records could be set this year in terms of tourist arrivals and cruise passenger movements, Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco said yesterday.

The cruise liner industry could match and even break the 2008 record, when Malta had welcomed 550,000 passengers, with the amount in the first 10 months of this year already matching the figure for 2010, he said.

The “conservative” estimated spend of cruise passengers was €60 per head, which would leave €33 million in the economy if the expected target of 550,000 was reached, Dr de Marco said.

Speaking about the “significant” results for the industry, he said October was the best ever for Valletta Cruise Port, with over 76,000 passengers visiting Malta, marking an increase of 30 per cent over the same month last year.

Malta International Airport has also indicated it was the best month, registering over 346,000 passenger movements.

The first nine months of the year had already experienced an increase of 70,000 tourists over the same period last year, with the minimum expenditure rising by €81 million, Dr de Marco said, adding that it could mean an increase over last year’s record 1.3 million tourists.

Dr de Marco was speaking aboard the Mein Schiff, which has just concluded its first and “successful” season of home-porting from Malta and announced that the operation would carry on in 2012 and 2013.

He described as “positive” the impact the home-porting concept had on the airline industry, transportation and catering establishments. Through home porting all passengers embark and disembark here.

These achievements, Dr de Marco said, were even more significant because they were registered in a year that was not easy, having started with the “great uncertainty” that hit the Mediterranean coast.

Mein Schiff cruised in both the western and eastern Mediterranean and its butterfly itinerary made the most of Malta’s strategic location in its heart, he pointed out.

Mein Schiff, the first and only ship that home-ports in Malta following stiff competition from other experienced ports, called at Valletta 28 times since May, said Joe Cappello, executive director of SMS Mondial, its local representative.

About 2,000 tourists were flown in every week and transported from MIA to the port and back, using 70 coaches each time, he said. In summer, 38,000 tourists, mostly Germans, were transported back and forth, and about 3,000 Maltese passengers boarded the Mein Schiff.

Valletta Cruise Port CEO John Portelli was “very confident of the future growth of Malta’s cruise industry”, pointing out that the 500,000th passenger was on board the Mein Schiff yesterday.