Total cruise passenger traffic in September amounted to 61,893, a drop of 14,919 passengers over the corresponding month last year.

The National Office of Statistics said that the number of embarkations from and landings in Malta in September stood at 3,023 and 3,137 people respectively, while the total number of transit passengers stood at 55,733.

Passengers from EU countries made up 80.7 percent of total traffic, with the main markets being Italy, Germany and Spain.

Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta between January and September amounted to 310,763, a decline of 26.6 percent over the comparative period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 75.1 percent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Germany, Spain and France.

Cruise passengers coming from EU countries registered a drop of 30.2 percent, with significant drops being recorded in the Spanish and Italian markets.

The American market remained substantial, representing 58.7 percent of the non-EU incoming passengers.

On a gender basis, female passengers exceeded males and accounted for 52.1 percent of total passengers. The largest proportion of passengers - 34.0 percent - were aged between 40 and 59, followed by those in the 60 to 79 age bracket who accounted for 27.7 percent of the total.

There were 35 cruise liner calls in September with an average of 1,768 passengers per vessel. A total of 176 cruise liner calls were recorded between January and September, down by 41.9 percent with respect to last year.