Forecasts for the cruise liner industry next year are optimistic, despite a drop of 120,000 passengers this year, according to Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella.
The sharp decline was the upshot of the decision taken by a number of cruise companies to discontinue their weekly port calls due to hikes in fuel prices.
Mr Vella was addressing a press conference yesterday aboard the luxury liner Costa Favolosa, which made its final Valletta call for this year. The Costa Crociere company confirmed that the Favolosa, along with other Costa ships, will once again use the Grand Harbour next year.
Cruise passengers dropped from 600,000 in 2012 to 480,000. Between January and September, the number of port calls totalled 194 – 44 less than last year.
Profiling the passengers, Mr Vella said that 76 per cent hailed from EU member states, mainly Germany, Italy and the UK. The majority of non-EU passengers were from the US.
Two-thirds of the passengers were aged between 40 and 70.
Mr Vella stressed that the cruise liner business was very important for Malta, especially in terms of direct and indirect contribution to spending. “All cruise passengers get a preview of what Malta has to offer. Malta therefore gets exposure with some half a million people a year. This beats any advertisements we may publish or broadcast.”
Consolidating the minister’s argument, Valletta Cruise Port CEO John Portelli said that this year he commissioned a survey whereby it emerged that 60 per cent of cruise passengers were new to Malta.
In addition, 90 per cent of tourists declared they were interested in returning to Malta for a longer stay.
“Next year should be a better year than this year.”
Next year, Costa Cruises is expected to make 71 calls, bringing 71,000 passengers to Malta.
It will also be adding a new ship to its nine-vessel fleet: the Costa Neo Riviera.
The latest addition will operate a Malta to Malta itinerary between April and November and will offer what sales and marketing representative Dario Rustico described as “a new concept of cruising”.
The Neo Riviera, which is smaller than the Favolosa in size, will operate special ‘boutique’ itineraries, including exclusive ports of call which do not accommodate larger vessels.
The liner will call at places such as Portoferraio on the island of Elba, Propriano in Corsica and Olbia in Sardinia.
It will carry a maximum of 1,700 passengers as opposed to the Favolosa’s 3,800, allowing for a more personalised service. For instance, shore excursions will cater for a maximum group of 25 people and will be dedicated to travellers rather than vacationers.