If more space is allocated to cruise liner berthing in Grand Harbour, more cruise liners will come to Malta, three cruise liner agents in Malta told Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday.

Martin Degiorgio, Norman Hamilton and Sam Mifsud met Dr Sant at the SMS Travel offices in Valletta and spoke to Dr Sant in another consultation the Labour leader is holding in preparation for a plan for the regional development of Grand Harbour.

Dr Sant’s interlocutors mentioned, among other suggestions, the possibility that cruise liners berth at Cottonera, near the Fish Market and also at Sliema.

They agreed Malta is better placed than ports such as Barcelona for it is in a more central location.

It was also revealed that as from next year, cruise liners will leave a number of passengers in Malta to enjoy a week’s stay and pick them up a week later.

With a warship in port, the operators also criticised the condition imposed by the government on VISET that naval vessels are given priority in berthing

The concern, expressed before EU accession, that cruise liners would prefer to visit North African ports does not seem to have been realized, but the expansion of passengers to Malta does not appear to have enjoyed the same rate of expansion as in other Western Mediterranean ports. One factor that could have influenced this might be the high prices charged at the port.

It was also pointed out that the traffic arrangements for cruise liner passengers need to be greatly improved for there is an ongoing risk of some fatal accident when coaches drop off their passengers at the end of an excursion.