Total cruise passenger traffic during the first quarter of 2018 amounted to 69,742, a decrease of 18.2 per cent over the corresponding period in 2017, the NSO said today.

Cruise Passengers: Q1/2018

There were 17 cruise liner calls during the first quarter of 2018, 17 less than the previous year. At 99.8 per cent, transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 69,624. On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 4,102 passengers, 1,596 more than the previous year.

Visitors from EU Member States comprised 65.7 per cent of total traffic, the major markets being Italy, France, Germany and Spain. The total number of passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 23,932, a decrease of 12.0 per cent over 2017.

On a gender basis, female passengers made up 53.9 per cent of this year’s total. Most passengers were aged between 60 and 79 (33.8 per cent), followed by those within the 40-59 age bracket (31.2 per cent).