During the fourth quarter of 2021, there were 372 passengers on cruise liners that were berthed in Gozo, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Office.

It was also noted that for the year of 2021, there were 3,229 passengers on cruise liners that were berthed in Gozo.

The NSO said that there were 34 cruise liner calls in Malta. It noted that transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 42,166 passengers. On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 1,323 passengers.

EU nationals comprised the largest share of total cruise passengers during the period under review, at 82.3%. The major market was Italy with 13,586 passengers, accounting for 30.2% of the total passengers.

The total number of cruise passengers from Non-EU countries during the quarter under review stood at 7,984, the NSO said.

Female passengers amounted to 23,771 and comprised 52.8% of the total traffic. The largest share of passengers, fell within the 60 to 79 age bracket with 33.7%, followed by the 40 to 59 age category, at 31.1%.

Data shows that on a national basis the total cruise passengers for 2021 stood at 141,917. Of these, 87.1% came from EU Member States. The NSO said that this represents a significant increase in cruise passengers when compared to 2020, although pre-Covid-19 levels have yet to be attained.

Of these, the majority of the passengers were females amounting to 74,000 or 52.1% of the total. Most passengers were between 40 and 59 years old, totalling 45,281. These were followed by passengers aged 60-79 years, reaching 34,888.

Again on a national basis, there were 106 cruise liner calls in 2021, with an average of 1,339 passengers per vessel, compared to 32 calls and an average of 1,844 passengers per vessel in the comparative period of 2020.

File photo by Alain Salvary

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