In July, cruise passenger traffic in Malta accounted for 58,237 persons, an increase of 40 per cent over the same month in 2006, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

July 2007

Total cruise passenger traffic amounted to 58,237, an increase of 16,649 passengers over the same month in 2006. Embarkations from and landings in Malta in this month stood at 1,511 and 1,518 persons respectively.

January-July 2007

During the first seven months of 2007, total cruise passenger traffic amounted to 223,056 an increase of 28.3 per cent over the same period last year. Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 83.6 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Spain and Germany. The American market remained substantial, representing more than half of the non-EU incoming passengers. The growth was underpinned by increases from the Italian and Spanish markets.

On a gender basis, total traffic was almost on a par, with male passengers exceeding female ones by 1.1 per cent. The largest proportion of passengers – 34.1 per cent – comprised persons aged between 40 and 59 years, followed by those in the 60-79 age bracket who accounted for 26.7 per cent of the total.

In July, cruise liner calls increased by four when compared to the same month in 2006, bringing the total for the first seven months of the year to 167 compared to 164 in the same period of 2006.