Cruise passenger passengers up to last month had already surpassed last year's 12-month record of 556,000.
According to figures published by the National Statistics Office today, total cruise passengers between January and November reached 590,630, an increase of 9.2 per cent over the same period last year.
Traffic in November amounted to 48,436, up by 3.1 per cent over last year.
It said there were 25 cruise liner calls during the month, with an average 1,937 passengers per vessel.
Cruise passengers embarking from and landing in Malta stood at 287 and 308 respectively, significantly fewer than last year
But visitors in transit increased by 12.2 per cent, to 47,841. The majority of cruise passengers (22,705 or 46.9 per cent of the total) were between 60 and 79 years old.
Visitors from EU countries amounted to 35,945 - an increase of 9.6 per cent when compared to the same month last year. The German market remained the largest European market, and was followed by the Italian market. The number of passengers from Non-EU Member States reached 12,491 - down by 12 per cent over 2011. The majority of non-EU cruise passengers - 3,403came from the United States.
Total cruise passengers between January and November reached 590,630, an increase of 9.2 per cent over last year.
Of these, 80.3 per cent came from EU member states. There was an increase of 11.7 per cent in cruise passengers coming from EU states when compared to last year.
Most EU visitors either came from Germany (156,168) or from Italy (95,271).
Passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 116,526, of whom 31.8 per cent were US nationals.
The government said in a statement that it was estimated that each cruise liner passenger spent at least 60 euros in a country. This meant that these passengers would have left around some 35 million in the country's economy.
Addressing a news conference this afternoon, Tourism Minister Mario de Marco thanked Valletta Cruise Port as the entity responsible for attracting cruise liners.
He said the positive outcomes were the result of major infrastructural investment.
“In the past, vessels would be around 100 metres long. Nowadays, most of them are at least 300 metres long. If we want to attract more cruise liners to our islands, we need to keep lengthening our quays,” he says.