There were seven port of calls by cruise ships during the third quarter this year, down sharply from 122 in the same period last year. Figures by the National Statistics Office show a total cruise passenger traffic of just over 7,018; all except two were in transit. The number is a decrease of 97.3 percent from Q3 2019.
The average number of passengers per vessel between July and September was 1,003; it was 2,108 in the same quarter the previous year. More than nine in ten incoming visitors were from EU countries, with Italian tourists accounting for 78.9 percent of total passengers. The UK represented the largest non-EU market, contributing to 0.2 percent of total arrivals.
Slightly more than a third of passengers were between the ages of 40 to 59, the largest age group as in 2019 and 2018. The 60-79 age group, however, held a share of 12 percent – a marked drop from almost 50 percent in both of the previous two years. On the other hand, the 20 to 39 age bracket rose to the second-largest cohort with 30 percent of total passengers, even if arrivals fell compared to both 2019 (-94.3%) and 2018 (-92.4%).
Between January and September this year, there were 47,193 cruise liner passengers, 61 of whom landed while the rest were in transit. In the first nine months of 2019, 118,844 passengers landed and 479,993 were in transit with a combined total cruise passenger traffic of 598,837.
