More than 870,000 cruise passengers visit Malta in 2025

Total cruise passenger traffic during the fourth quarter of 2025 amounted to 179,299, an increase of 1.4 per cent over the same quarter of the previous year, the NSO said Wednesday.

There were 93 cruise liner calls during the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 1 when compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Transit passengers accounted for the absolute majority of total traffic, reaching 169,152 (94.3 per cent). On average, every vessel that berthed in Malta carried 1,928 passengers, 6 more than the previous year. 

Passengers from EU Member States comprised 42.0 per cent of total traffic. The major markets were Germany, accounting for 11.3 per cent of the total passengers, followed by Italy, with 11.1 per cent. The total number of passengers from non-EU countries stood at 103,991, where the United States accounted for 20.5 per cent of the total passengers and 13.0 per cent came from the United Kingdom.

On a gender basis, female passengers made up 52.5 per cent of the total. The largest share of passengers fell within the 60-79 age bracket (43.8 per cent) and were followed by those aged between 40 and 59 years (27.3 per cent).

January-December 2025

During 2025, total cruise passengers stood at 870,560. Of these, 45.9 per cent came from EU Member States.

The majority of the passengers were females amounting to 463,366 or 53.2 per cent of the total. Most passengers were between 60 and 79 years old, totalling 313,575 (36.0 per cent). These were followed by passengers aged 40-59 years, reaching 263,091 (30.2 per cent).

There were 387 cruise liner calls during the year, with an average of 2,250 passengers per vessel, compared to 363 calls and an average of 2,339 passengers per vessel in the comparative period of 2024.