Record Year for Valletta Cruise Port
July 22 was the busiest day of 2015 at the Port of Valletta (Photo: © Peter Paul Barbara)
Left to right: Stephen Xuereb, Chief Executive Officer of Valletta Cruise Port plc, the Hon. Dr. Edward Zammit Lewis, Minister for Tourism and Angelo Xuereb, Director of Valletta Cruise Port plc (Photo: Valletta Cruise Port plc)
2015 saw a sharp increase in the number of passenger movements recorded at Valletta Cruise Port
A total of 668,277 passenger movements were recorded on 306 cruise vessels calling Valletta in 2015, equating to an increase of 150,683 passengers, or a 29.1 percent increase on the previous year. The year’s record figures surpassed the port’s previous best of 608,786 passenger movements set in 2012.
As per NSO statistics, which exclude embarking passengers, the 2015 landed passengers amounted to 600,156, up sharply from 471,554 in 2014. This also exceeds the previous record of 562,812 from 2012, by about 6 percent.
The largest component of cruise operations remains port of call amounting to 79 percent of passenger movements, while homeport operations amount to 21 percent of the total passenger movements.
The busiest month in 2015 was October, with 105,164 passenger movements, equivalent to 15.7 percent of passenger movements for the year. Several busy cruise days were recorded during the year, with the busiest day being the July 22 when more than 13,500 passengers wre recorded from the two ships, MSC Fantasia and Costa NeoClassica, 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.”
