The number of cruise passengers who visited Malta dipped by 4.4 percent last month compared to August 2007 and reached 76,646, the NSO said today.

Between January and August, cruise passenger traffic in Malta amounted to 346,750, an increase of 14.4 percent
over the same period last year.

Same-day visitors from EU countries accounted for 79.1 percent of total traffic, the main markets being Spain, Italy and Germany.

The American market remained substantial, representing 60.6 per cent of the non- EU incoming passengers. The overall growth in cruise passenger traffic was underpinned by increases in the American, British and Spanish markets.

At the same time, the cruise passenger scene was characterised by falls in the German and Italian markets,
by 6,725 and 4,384 passengers respectively .

The largest proportion of passengers - 33.8 per cent - comprised persons aged between 40 and 59 years, followed by those in the 60-79 age bracket who accounted for 26.3 per cent of the total.

There were 45 cruise liner calls in August, bringing the total for the first eight months of the year to 242 compared to 208 in the corresponding period last year.