5,588 cruise passengers visited Gozo during the third quarter of this year, this was down by 1,231 or 18.0% on 2018, when the figure stood at 6,819, the National Statistics Office said today.

From January to September this year the number of cruise passengers visiting Gozo fell by 29.2% or 3,300 to 8,009. Last year the figure stood at 11,309 for the same period.

On a national basis, total cruise passenger traffic during the third quarter of 2019 amounted to 257,178, an increase of 36.1% over the corresponding period in 2018.

The NSO said that there were 122 cruise liner calls during the third quarter, this was 27 more than the previous year.

At 74.4%, transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 191,469.

4,449 passengers spent at least one night on board their berthed cruise liner, the NSO said. On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 2,108 passengers, 119 more than the previous year.

65.9% of visitors were from EU Member States, the major markets being Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. The total number of passengers from Non-EU countries stood at 87,580, with 48.8% of them from the United States.

On a national basis, during the first nine months of the year, total cruise passengers stood at 598,837, an increase of 35.6% over 2018.

65.7% came from EU Member States. The NSO noted that there were significant increases recorded in the German, American and British markets.

There were 273 cruise liner calls during the first three quarters of 2019, with an average 2,194 passengers per vessel, compared to 215 calls and an average 2,054 passengers per vessel in comparative period last year.

Photograph by Alain Salvary

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