In May 2008, cruise passenger traffic in Malta comprised 74,564 persons, an increase of 44.1 per cent over the same month in 2007.

May 2008 – Total cruise passenger traffic amounted to 74,564, an increase of 22,818 passengers over the same month in 2007. Embarkations from and landings in Malta in this month stood at 1,417 and 1,428 persons respectively.

January-May 2008 – Total cruise passenger traffic in Malta amounted to 131,311, an increase of 20.0 per cent over the same period last year. Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 81.3 per cent of total traffic, the main markets being Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

On a gender basis, male passengers exceeded female ones by 2.7 per cent. The largest proportion of passengers – 37.3 per cent – comprised persons aged between 60 and 79 years, followed by those in the 40-59 age bracket who accounted for 29.2 per cent of the total.

There were 52 cruise liner calls in May, bringing the total for the first five months of 2008 to 105. Chart 1 above shows that the average number of passengers per vessel is on the increase.

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