The main increases in June passenger movements included a 12.7 per cent increase in traffic to and from the UK, a 21.7 per cent increase to and from Sicily and a 23.5 per cent increase in traffic to and from the Middle East. There was a 17.5 per cent decrease in traffic to and from The Netherlands and a 17.8 per cent decline in traffic to and from Libya.

Earlier last week the National Statistics Office reported an 8.1 per cent increase in tourists departing by air during June.

MIA sources told this paper the increase in passengers resulted mostly from the new airlines which have started flying to Malta in the summer schedule. The increase in tourism figures started in real earnest only in June, as can be seen from the May figures on the MIA website, which show just a 3.8 per cent increase in passenger departures. The NSO figures for the first half of the year show just a 0.3 per cent increase in tourist departures for the whole period.