The number of cruise passengers visiting the Maltese islands during the first three months of the year amounted to 19,499, an increase of 24.4 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.
German tourists were by far the major market in the period under review with 8,879 cruise passengers, followed by Italy (3,927), the UK (1,752) and Spain (1,375).
The greatest proportion of cruise passengers were elderly people aged between 60-79 years, which accounted for 38.6 per cent of the total number of passengers that visited Malta, closely followed by those within the 40-59 age bracket with 35.1 per cent.