Cruise liner passenger traffic increased by 27 per cent in the last three months of 2014 when compared to same period in 2013.

There were 100 cruise liner calls, in comparison with 92 in the previous year, the National Statistics Office said.

Between October and December, transit passengers accounted for the vast majority of total traffic, amounting to 142,066. Around 524 passengers visited Gozo, while 3,541 passengers spent at least one night on board the berthed cruise liner.

Visitors from the EU made up 80.7 per cent – mainly from Germany, Italy and France.

In the whole of 2014, cruise passengers amounted to 471,554 – an increase of 9.3 per cent over 2013.

Of these, 77.9 per cent were from the EU.

There were 303 cruise liner calls in 2014 with an average 1,556 passengers per vessel, compared to 286 calls and an average 1,508 passengers per vessel in 2013.

These figures were welcomed by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis who said that 2014 was a very good year for the cruise liner industry as the country managed to improve the decline in numbers registered in 2013.