Over 65,000 Visited Malta Via Cruise In First 3 Months Of 2026

Total cruise passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2026 stood at 65,247, representing a decline of 22.9% compared with the same period in the previous year.

During this quarter, there were 33 cruise liner calls, an increase of two when compared with the corresponding period of 2025.

Transit passengers made up the vast majority of total traffic, reaching 64,276, or 98.5% of all passengers. On average, each vessel that berthed in Malta carried 1,977 passengers, which was 752 fewer than the previous year.

Passengers from EU Member States accounted for 46.5% of total traffic. The largest source market was Italy at 17.5%, followed by Spain at 8.4%.

Non-EU passengers totalled 34,892, with the United States contributing 15.9% of total passengers and the United Kingdom accounting for 11.6%.

In terms of gender distribution, female passengers represented 53.0% of the total. The largest age group was 60 to 79 years, accounting for 35.5%, followed by passengers aged 40 to 59 years at 27.2%.

#MaltaDaily