Record Year for Valletta Cruise Port

Record Year for Valletta Cruise Port  - Κεντρική Εικόνα

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In 2015 a sharp increase in the number of passenger movements was recorded when compared to the previous year.

A total of 668,277 passenger movements were recorded on 306 cruise vessels (2015) calling Valletta. This means an increase of 150,683 passengers or a 29.1% increase on the previous year (2014). The previous record was set in 2012, with 608,786 passenger movements being recorded.

As per NSO statistics, which exclude embarking passengers, the 2015 landed passengers amounted to 600,156 (2014: 471,554). This exceeds the previous record year in 2012 (562,812), by circa 6%.

The largest component of cruise operations remains port of call amounting to 79% of passenger movements. Homeport operations amount to 21% of the total passenger movements.

The busiest month in 2015 was October with 105,164 passenger movements equivalent to 15.7% of passenger movements for the year. Several busy cruise days were recorded during the year with the busiest day being the 22nd July with over 13,500 passengers. This was indeed a challenging operation particularly since two ships, MSC Fantasia and Costa NeoClassica were berthed at Boiler Wharf and Lab Wharf.

Stephen Xuereb, CEO of Valletta Cruise Port said, “Improving the infrastructure on Quays 4/5 and a proposed extension towards Barriera Wharf is critical to the continued growth of the industry in Valletta. Valletta Cruise Port is currently working on these plans in order to meet the challenges that lie ahead. 2016 is looking very positive and Valletta is expected to welcome an unprecedented 740,000 passenger movements. It is indeed an exciting time for Valletta Cruise Port”.

Table 1: Valletta excluding Gozo

2015
Home In (pax)
Transit (pax)
Total Arriving (pax)
Home Out (pax)
Total Pax
Movements
Cruise Calls

January

59

8930

8989

38

9027

5

February

5

3493

3498

1

3499

1

March

8

8161

8169

0

8169

3

April

5494

72033

77527

5268

82795

40

May

11500

64779

76279

11644

87923

39

June

9653

41784

51437

9749

61186

29

July

10274

44405

54679

10268

64947

24

August

12904

40412

53316

12893

66209

28

September

11181

76961

88142

10872

99014

49

October

8944

87254

96198

8966

105164

53

November

393

55244

55637

329

55966

28

December

29

24309

24338

40

24378

7

Total

70444

527765

598209

70068

668277

306