Thirteen cruise liners carrying 22,648 passengers visited Malta in the first three months of this year, 3.3 per cent less than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said.
It said transit passengers accounted for the vast majority of total traffic, amounting to 22,494 visitors. Of these, 1,886 spent at least one night on board their berthed cruise liner.
Visitors from EU states accounted for 71 per cent of total traffic, with the major
markets comprising Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. There were 6,563 passengers from non-EU states, 24 per cent coming from the United States.