Cruise passenger traffic during July stood at 67,195, down by 14.1 per cent over 2011. There were 25 cruise liner calls last month, carrying an average of 2,688 passengers per vessel.

However, during the first seven months of 2012, 2,144 cruise passengers visited Gozo – 1,819 more than last year.

Cruise passengers in transit numbered 50,058, while those embarking from or landing in Malta amounted to 8,581 and 8,556 respectively. Cruise passengers in transit decreased by 15.2 per cent, while the remaining passengers dropped by nearly 12 per cent when compared to 2011 levels.

Most cruise passengers fell in the 40-59-year-old age group (25,253) and were followed by passengers aged under 20 (16,540). On a gender basis, female passengers surpassed males and accounted for 51.4 per cent of total.

The majority of cruise passengers came from EU Member States and totalled 53,834, albeit a drop of 13.2 per cent over last year. With 20,221 passengers, the German market remained the strongest and was followed by the Italian market with 11,012 cruise passengers.

Cruise passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 13,361, down by 17.7 per cent when compared to last year. This was mainly brought about by a substantial decline of 46.4 per cent in the American market.

The total number of cruise passengers for the period January to July 2012 amounted to 294,548, up by 5.2 per cent when compared to the previous year. Cruise passengers from EU Member States numbered 240,289, or 81.6 per cent of the total. Most of the passengers either came from Germany (86,586) or from Italy (47,859). Visitors from Non-EU countries counted 54,259 – a drop of 18.9 per cent when compared to 2011. Female passengers amounted to 152,091, while male passengers stood at 142,457.

In all there were 150 cruise liner calls, seven more than the corresponding period in 2011. On average, these vessels carried 1,964 passengers each.

These figures are supplied by the National Statistics Office.

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