Total cruise passengers for April stood at 44,780, a drop of 20.3 per cent when compared to the corresponding month last year.

The total number of cruise passengers during this month stood at 44,780. Of these, 97.2 per cent were in transit, while the remaining passengers either embarked from or landed in Malta. Most passengers fell within the 60-79 age group and numbered 15,840. On a gender basis, female passengers outnumbered males and amounted to 23,473, or 52.4 per cent of the total.

Cruise passengers from EU countries stood at 32,142, while those from Non-EU countries numbered 12,638. The majority of EU passengers were Italian (8,627) or French (6,953). The Spanish and British markets registered increases of 40.0 and 15.8 per cent respectively over the corresponding month last year, while the Italian market dropped by 47.7 per cent. On the other hand, American passengers dominated the Non-EU market at 4,562. Almost all Non-EU countries registered minor drops during April, with the exception of Canada which increased by 24.1 per cent.

Total cruise passengers for this period amounted to 68,413, a drop of 33.0 per cent over the previous year. Of these, 44,651 were from EU countries. The number of cruise passengers from most European markets dropped except for the UK and Spain, which registered increases of 27.6 and 10.3 per cent respectively. Conversely, the number of passengers from Non-EU countries moved up marginally and stood at 23,762.

The largest share of passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket and stood at 26,555, followed by the 40-59 age group (20,295). The proportion of male passengers stood at 47.0 per cent; at 36,250, or 53.0 per cent of the total, females outnumbered males. There were 43 cruise liner calls during the first four months of the year, with an average of 1,591 passengers per vessel.

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