MaltaMedia.com

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said that the total cruise passengers for June advanced by 60 per cent, reaching 74,332, when compared to the corresponding month last year.

In June 2011 there were 37 cruise liner calls, with an average 2,009 passengers per vessel. The number of passengers who disembarked in Malta stood at 7,402, while those who embarked from Malta amounted to 7,496. The remaining passengers (59,434) were in transit.

NSO added that passenger in transit increased by 35.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding month last year.

The increases in the number of passenger embarkations and landings are due to new cruise-and-fly packages launched this summer.

Most passengers were aged between 40 and 59 (27,018), followed by the 60-79 age bracket, which numbered 18,764. On a gender basis, female passengers stood at 37,431 while males amounted to 36,901.

Cruise passengers from EU countries stood at 55,676, up by 40.8 per cent when compared to the previous year. Most EU passengers came from Germany (22,358). These were followed by those coming from Italy (16,193). Non-EU passengers registered increases as well and amounted to 18,656. This was the result of a substantial increase in the American market, which comprised 53.4 per cent of total Non-EU passengers.

Total cruise passengers for the first half of the year amounted to 201,782, down by 1.0 per cent over the corresponding period in 2010. EU passengers stood at 151,111, while Non-EU passengers numbered 50,671 NSO added.

Most of the main EU markets registered drops except for Germany and the United Kingdom, which went up by 39.9 and 5.5 per cent respectively. The largest increase among Non-EU countries was recorded for the United States, at 24.7 per cent.

The largest share of passengers, 67,795, was aged between 40 and 59, followed by the 60-79 age group (66,646). Male passengers stood at 97,562 – or 48.4 per cent of the total. In all, there were 113 cruise liner calls, with an average of 1,786 passengers per vessel NSO concluded.