The National Statistics Office has reported that cruise passenger traffic during April stood at 54,705, up by 22.2 per cent over last year. There were 34 cruise liner calls during the month with an average 1,609 passengers per vessel.

The absolute majority of cruise passengers were in transit and amounted to 52,326, while the remaining were either embarking (1,258) or landing (1,121) in Malta. Most cruise passengers were 60-79 years old, followed closely by those in the 40-59 age bracket. These numbered 17,810 and 17,442 respectively. On a gender basis, female passengers were in the majority and amounted to 27,976, or 51.1 per cent of the total.

The majority of cruise passengers came from EU Member States and stood at 42,591, an increase of 32.5 per cent when compared to 2011. Most European passengers came from Italy (10,957), France (10,519) and Germany (10,280). Visitors from Non-EU countries stood at 12,114, down by 524 when compared with the previous year. All main Non-EU markets registered drops in the number of passengers, with the American market recording the highest decrease.

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