Total cruise passenger traffic for November amounted to 48,436, up by 3.1 per cent over last year. There were 25 cruise liner calls during the month, with an average 1,937 passengers per vessel, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office today.

Between January and November this year, passengers who visited the island of Gozo “increased substantially when compared to the corresponding period last year and reached 3,546,” the NSO said.

Cruise passengers embarking from and landing in Malta stood at 287 and 308 respectively, significantly fewer than last year. On the other hand, visitors in transit increased by 12.2 per cent, to 47,841. The majority of cruise passengers (22,705 or 46.9 per cent of the total) were between 60 and 79 years old. Female passengers outnumbered males and counted 24,654, or 50.9 per cent of the total.

Visitors from EU countries amounted to 35,945 – an increase of 9.6 per cent when compared to the corresponding month last year. The German market remained the largest European market, and was followed by the Italian market. The number of passengers from Non-EU Member States reached 12,491 – down by 12.0 per cent over 2011. The majority of Non-EU cruise passengers came from the United States and amounted to 3,403.

During January to November total cruise passengers reached 590,630, an increase of 9.2 per cent over last year. Of these, 80.3 per cent came from EU Member States. There was an increase of 11.7 per cent in cruise passengers coming from EU Member States when compared to last year.

Most EU visitors either came from Germany (156,168) or from Italy (95,271). Passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 116,526, of whom 31.8 per cent were US nationals.

Most cruise passengers were aged between 40 and 59, and totalled 201,832. These were followed by passengers in the 60-79 age bracket, which stood at 190,563. Male passengers amounted to 287,018, while females counted 303,612.

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