Costa Cruises will be maintaining the level of port visits to Malta this year as last year, having weathered the storm caused with the grounding of the Costa Concordia last year.

The huge Costa Magica sailed into Grand Harbour this morning on the first of the weekly port calls it will make through this season, having replaced the Concordia.

Company officials said that following the shock sinking of the Concordia off the island of Giglio last January, the cruise industry as a whole had suffered a dent in the number of bookings made.

Costa Cruises, however, had proved to be resilient and, in Malta, confidence was shown by the fact that only 10% of people who were already booked on Concordia cruises had asked for their money back.

Nonetheless, the sinking of the Concordia and the severe economic problems in Italy have made this a troublsome year, and Costa is therefore extending its usual discounted rates until May 1.

Dario Rustico, Costa's sales and marketing director and Karmenu Vella MP, chairman of local agents Orange said Costa cruise ships will make 61 calls in Malta this season - up to October 1 - bringing 170,000 visitors. There will be 63 calls next year with 180,000 visitors. The Costa Magica will call 29 times.

Between 16,000 and 17,000 Maltese go on cruises every year, a higher percentage per capita than other countries, Mr Rustico remarked.