Six cruise liner visits to Malta in March carried 6,756 passengers on board, a drop of 23 % compared to the corresponding month last year.

The absolute majority of cruise passengers were in transit (6,718), while a negligible amount (38 passengers) were either embarking from or landing in Malta. Most cruise liner passengers fell in the 60-79 age bracket and stood at 2,473. These were followed by the 40-59 age group (1,546). On a gender basis, female passengers outnumbered males and made up 53.8 % of the total.

The majority of passengers came from EU Member States and stood at 5,072 - a decrease of 12.9 % when compared to 2011. The majority of European passengers came from Germany (1,445) and Spain (1,328), while a substantial decrease was noted in the British market. Cruise passengers from Non-EU countries dropped by 42.1 % over the previous year and amounted to 1,684. Almost all main countries registered declines in the number of passengers.

January-March 2012

Total cruise passengers for the first quarter stood at 23,460, a marginal drop when compared to 2011 levels. Cruise passengers from EU countries numbered 18,848, or 80.3 % of the total. Most EU nationals came from Germany and Italy, amounting to 4,377 and 3,675 respectively. Non-EU passengers stood at 4,612, down by 58.5 % over the corresponding period last year. This drop was mainly caused by a decrease of 84.4 % in the number of American visitors. Between January and March there were 12 cruise liner calls - two less when compared with last year. On average, each vessel had 1,955 passengers on board.