The number of cruise passengers last month plummeted by 66 per cent when compared to March last year, with the figure down to 8,035 from 25,533. However, although the figures are admittedly “very alarming”, there is no cause for concern, according to Valletta Cruise Port CEO John Portelli. He said that, while Easter happened to fall in March last year, this time around it was in April – and quite late in the month.

“Easter is quite a good period for people to travel in, so that would clearly have an impact on arrivals,” Mr Portelli said. He added that since most ships carry over 2,000 passengers, three calls less in a month would have a dramatic effect on the numbers. While last year there were 10 cruise ship calls during March, this year there were only seven. However, VCP is still very optimistic as “all projections are looking at a very, very good year”, with the figures expected to surpass those of last year. “Last year there was a slump in arrivals too, but we still managed to have more arrivals than the previous years,” Mr Portelli said, adding that the peak summer season was just about to start. While the number of passengers from France, Germany and Italy saw dramatic falls – there were 5,168 fewer Italians than last year – more UK cruise passengers made it to our shores last month than in the same period last year. The bulk of the passengers were in the 60 to 79-year-old age bracket, with nearly 5,000 arrivals.