“Both Maltese and foreign travellers are increasingly opting to travel abroad by sea rather than by air. Sea travel offers a number of advantages including the possibility of seeing several different cities, in different countries, in just a few days,” said Mr Dirk Spiteri Lucas, Business Manager at VISET plc, the operators of Valletta Waterfront.

At present there are four ferry services, operating on at least a weekly basis, and four cruise liners that are also collecting passengers from Malta. The four cruise liners using Valletta as collecting passengers from Malta are the MV Melody, operated by MSC which visits Malta every Wednesday, the MV Flamenco, which visits Malta every Friday and the MV Costa Tropicale which visits every other Wednesday. The MV Seawing, which is using Malta as its home port is also offering cabins to Maltese travellers.

Ferry services from Valletta Waterfront are being operated weekly by the MV Eurostar Valencia that sails to Salerno but also offers onward passage to Valencia. A service, on board the MV Victory, operated by Grandi Navi, sails to Genoa. Both these services stop in Tunisia before coming to Malta. Other services are operated by Maresi, with the ship MV Island Seaway which sails weekly to Catania and Reggio Calabria. Virtu Ferries also offers daily sailings to Pozzallo and Catania.