37 per cent drop in cruise passengers

There were 116,763 cruise passengers in the second quarter, 36.9 per cent less than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said. It said there were 80 cruise liner calls during the quarter, compared to 113 last year. The NSO said the decline was in part due to two cruise lines stopping their port calls to Malta. Transit passengers - 100,953, accounted for the vast majority of total traffic. Of these, 404 visited Gozo, while 3,531 spent at least one night on board their berthed cruise liner. Visitors from EU states accounted for 76.8 per cent of total traffic, with the major markets being Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. The total number of passengers from non-EU countries stood at 27,125. Just over 40 per cent of these passengers came from the United States. The NSO said that in the first half of the year, total cruise passengers reached 139,411, 33.2 per cent than in the same period in 2012. Of these, 75.8 per cent came from EU states. Almost all EU markets registered sharp decreases when compared to the corresponding period last year, except for the Maltese and British markets, which increased by 14 and 13.4 per cent respectively. Passengers from...