Air departures soar

The number of Maltese travelling abroad in June reached 19,125, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Of these, 16,280 departed by air - an increase of 15.9 per cent over the same month last year.

The most frequent destination among air passengers was the UK, which represents 24.8 per cent of the total number of Maltese travelling abroad by air. This was followed by Italy (23.2 per cent), Tunisia (8.2 per cent), Germany (6.1 per cent), France (3.8 per cent), the Netherlands (three per cent) and Spain (1.3 per cent).

Between January and June air departures to the UK increased by 4.1 per cent over the same period last year. Other increases were registered in departures to Germany (8.5 per cent), Italy (1.7 per cent), Tunisia (29.6 per cent), the Netherlands (22.6 per cent) and to a group of "other" markets (9.6 per cent).

Departures to France dropped by 29.1 per cent and to Spain by 45.5 per cent.