Visitors on cruise ships declined by 66% in March compared to the same month last year, the NSO said today.

The arrivals totalled 8,730 persons, an average 1,247 passengers per vessel.

Last month's decline was mainly caused by a significant drop in the average number of passengers
per vessel, which was half that registered during March last year. There were also three fewer port calls.

Most passengers were in transit and totalled 8,035, while the remaining passengers were either
embarking or landing in Malta, numbering 353 and 342 respectively.

The majority of passengers, or 56.5 per cent, fell within the 60-79 age group. These were followed by those aged between 40 and 59 (25.6 per cent). On a gender basis, female passengers outnumbered males by 8.6 percentage points and amounted to 4,741 persons.

Cruise passengers from EU Member States reached 5,824, while the number of non-EU passengers
stood at 2,906. The largest share of EU passengers were British (35.3 per cent), while nearly half
of the non-EU passengers came from the United States. All markets, except for the British market,
registered decreases when compared to 2010 levels.

John portelli, CEO of Valletta Cruise Port said the reason for the decline was that Easter came late this year compared to last year. 

"Valletta Cruise Port was aware of this drop and is still confident of successful results this year.  So far, bookings for 2011 show that this year will certainly be one of our best years," he said.

Total cruise passengers for the first quarter stood at 23,633, of whom 52.9 per cent arrived from EU
Member States. Passengers from Non-EU countries dropped by 11.7 per cent to 11,124. All major
European markets registered decreases, except for the British market which advanced by 45.0 per
cent.