Total cruise passenger traffic during the second quarter of 2024 amounted to 273,900, an increase of 21.6% over the same quarter of last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

There were 128 cruise liner calls during the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 30 when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 223,990 (81.8%). On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 2,140 passengers, 159 less than the previous year, the NSO said.

"Passengers from EU Member States comprised 35.3% of total traffic. The major markets were Italy, accounting for 10.3% of the total passengers, followed by Germany, with 8.6%. The total number of passengers from non-EU countries stood at 177,150, of whom 39.1% came from the United States and 35.6% came from the United Kingdom. On a gender basis, female passengers made up 54.2% of the total. The largest share of passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket (42.5%) and were followed by those aged between 40 and 59 years (28.5%)."

January-June 2024

During the first half of 2024, total cruise passengers stood at 350,462. Of these, 41.3% came from EU Member States, the NSO said..

"The majority of the passengers were females amounting to 188,641 or 53.8% of the total. Most passengers were between 60 and 79 years old, totalling 136,137 (38.8%). These were followed by passengers aged 40-59 years, reaching 102,931 (29.4%)."

There were 147 cruise liner calls during the first half of 2024, with an average of 2,384 passengers per vessel, compared to 119 calls and an average of 2,498 passengers per vessel in the comparative period of 2023, the NSO said.

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