Total cruise passengers for September stood at 67,982, an increase of 32.9 per cent over 2010, according to figures from the National Statistics Office today. Cruise liner calls last month went up by four to 37.

The number of passengers who disembarked in Malta advanced to 8,288, while those embarking from Malta reached 7,908. The majority of cruise passengers, or 51,786, were in transit with the majority within the 40 and 59 year old age bracket (24,551). They were narrowly followed by those aged 60-79 (20,927). Female passengers outnumbered males and comprised 51.1 per cent of total cruise passenger traffic.

Cruise passengers from EU countries stood at 54,931, up by 30.4 per cent when compared to the previous year. The majority of EU passengers came from Italy and Germany and stood at 15,961 and 15,777 respectively. A decrease in the number of French and British passengers was recorded. Visitors from outside the EU registered increases and totalled 13,051. Most Non-EU cruise passengers came from the United States and numbered 4,162.

Cruise passenger traffic for this nine-month period amounted to 416,726. EU passengers stood at 329,973, of which 35.2 per cent came from Germany and 26.6 per cent came from Italy. Non-EU passengers advanced by 17,905 when compared to last year, and amounted to 86,753. This was mainly caused by a substantial increase in the number of American passengers, who accounted for 41.3 per cent of total Non-EU traffic.

The majority of cruise passengers were between 40 and 59 years of age (148,150). These were followed by the 60-79 age group, numbering 109,078. Male passengers comprised 49.3 per cent of total. During this period, there were 210 cruise liner calls in Malta, with an average of 1,984 passengers per vessel.

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