Cruise passenger arrivals last month dropped 9.2 per cent to 52,816 when compared to August 2009, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Passengers in transit totalled 50,203; passengers starting their cruise in Malta reached 1,290.

Most cruise passengers were from EU countries and totalled 41,582. Non-EU passengers amounted to 11,234.

The main European markets were Italy, Germany and Spain, similarly to last year. Decreases were recorded in all these markets. Non-EU markets recorded an increase of 16 per cent in passengers. Most of these passengers hailed from the US, and made up 53.9 per cent of total non-EU passengers.

Total cruise passengers for the past eight months totalled 308,663, up by 24 per cent when compared with last year.

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