Arrivals on cruise ships increased by 22.8 percent last month over the same month in 2007, the NSO said today.

It said cruise passenger traffic amounted to 71,534, an increase of 13,297 passengers. Embarkations from and landings in Malta stood at 3,131 and 3,203 persons respectively.

Performance in the first seven months of the year was also strong, with passenger numbers reaching 270,104, an increase of 21.1 percent over the same period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 78.2 percent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Spain and Germany. The American market remained substantial, representing 61.4 percent of the non- EU incoming passengers.

The overall growth in cruise passenger traffic was underpinned by increases in the American, British and Spanish markets while the number of arriving Germans and French declined by 8,253 and 1,987 respectively.

The largest proportion of passengers - 32.9 percent - were between 40 and 59 years old, followed by those in the 60-79 age bracket who accounted for 29.3 per cent of the total.