Cruise liner traffic in April amounted to 56,192 passengers, up by 48.1 per cent compared to last year. There were 33 cruise liner calls, the National Statistics Office said.

The NSO said that the number of transit passengers stood at 53,834 and made up 95.8 per cent of the total.

Passengers from EU countries accounted for 81.5 per cent of total traffic, with Italy being the main market. Same-day visitors from non-EU countries stood at 10,397, 44.3 per cent of whom were from the United States.

Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta for the first four months of 2010 stood at 102,156, an increase of 46.5 per cent over the comparative period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 77.5 per cent of total traffic, with Italy and Germany being the leading markets.

In particular, the Italian market more than tripled when compared to 2009. On the other hand, same-day visitors from Britain registered a drop of 45.9 per cent. With regard to non-EU countries, the number of cruise passengers from Australia and Japan went up by 804 and 705, respectively.

On a gender basis, female passengers comprised 51.8 per cent of total cruise passengers. The largest proportion - 37.5 per cent - related to persons aged between 60 and 79, followed by those in the 40 to 59 age bracket, at 31 per cent of the total.

There were 33 cruise liner calls in April with an average number of passengers per vessel equivalent to 1,703.