Total cruise passenger traffic during the first quarter of 2017 increased by more than double over the corresponding period last year, officials statistics show.

A total of 85,215 passengers visited Malta in the first three months this year, an increase of 116.4 per cent over the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

There were 34 cruise liner calls during the first quarter, 17 more than last year.

On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 2,506 passengers, 190 more than last year.

Visitors from EU member states comprised 68.1 per cent of total traffic, the major markets being Italy, France and Germany. The total number of passengers from non-EU countries stood at 27,184, of whom 28.1 per cent came from the United States.

The largest share of passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket and were followed by those aged between 40 and 59.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.