After NCL, Costa Cruises likely to bring fewer passengers

Costa Cruises, one of the world's biggest cruise lines, is expected to halve the calls its ships make in Malta as from next year, The Times has learnt.

This comes in the wake of news that the Norwegian Gem, belonging to Norwegian Cruise Lines, will not be making its weekly stop at Grand Harbour this year. The liner, which first came to Malta in May 2008, will instead be sailing to Spain's Palma de Majorca, a move that will see the island lose a staggering 93,000 cruise visitors this year.

When contacted, Sam Mifsud, managing director of SMS, which represents both lines, confirmed that Costa would be reducing the number of visits from next year, stopping short of saying by how many. However, industry sources said stops in Malta would drop from nearly 60 to about 30.

Asked about the Norwegian Gem, Mr Mifsud, who chaired the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) until last year, said higher fuel costs, port charges and competition from other ports had contributed to the company's decision to leave Malta out of its itinerary.

"Times are changing," he said, arguing that, just like Malta had given fiscal incentives on certain routes in order to attract low-cost airlines, it should also review its port charges to be more competitive and counter competition from other destinations.

However, the MTA said port charges, which have remained "relatively unchanged" for many years, were not considered "deal-breakers". It said passenger charges levied on cruise liners were set by the local terminal operator and it was in the interest of the operator to keep them at competitive levels.

The MTA said in answer to questions by The Times that any decision by a cruise operator to reduce or cancel its Malta operations was "taken very seriously".

Asked whether it was revising its predictions for cruise arrivals, following the loss of the 93,000 Norwegian Gem passengers, an MTA spokesman said these were made on the basis of information supplied by the terminal operator. "The latest predictions provided by the terminal operator forecast an increase in numbers for 2010 when compared to 2009," he said.

The spokesman said a number of ships from various lines, including the Disney Cruise Line, would be making their maiden calls to Malta. TUI Cruises were also expected to use the island as the homeport for one of their ships next year.

Last year, 439,630 cruise passengers called here, a 21 per-cent drop over 2008.