Summer sees cruise arrivals reach 86 per cent of 2019 figures

Between July and September, Malta welcomed 223,480 cruise liner passengers, reaching 86 per cent of the figures recorded during the same period in 2019, the last pre-COVID year.

These arrived on a total of 97 cruise calls, less than the 122 recorded in 2019, but far above the 44 seen during the summer of 2021.

On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 2,304 passengers, 815 more when compared to the same period last year.

Passengers from EU countries comprised 63.9 per cent of total traffic. The major markets were Italy, accounting for 22.3 per cent of the total passengers, followed by Germany, with 20.5 per cent.

The total number of passengers from non-EU countries stood at 80,615, of whom 56.7 per cent came from the United Kingdom and 22.1 per cent came from the United States.

On a gender basis, female passengers made up 53 per cent of the total.

The largest share of passengers fell within the 40-59 age bracket and were followed by those aged between 60 and 79 years.

January-September 2022

During the first three quarters of the year, total cruise passengers stood at 386,018. Of these, 59.5 per cent came from EU member states.

This is a large increase over the 96,923 passengers welcomed in 2021, but considerably lower than the 598,837 arrivals in 2019.

The majority of the passengers between January and September of 2022 were females, amounting to 205,116, equivalent to 53.1 per cent of the total. Most passengers were between 40 and 59 years old, totalling 137,343. These were followed by passengers aged 60-79 years, reaching 107,654.

There were 222 cruise liner calls in the first three quarters of 2022, with an average of 1,739 passengers per vessel, compared to 72 calls and an average of 1,346 passengers per vessel in the comparative period of 2021.