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The increased air passenger tax continues to leave a negative impact on air travel with the recent official statistics confirming a drop of just under 12 per cent in the number of Maltese travellers during the month of March.
The number of Maltese passengers travelling by air decreased by 11.8 per cent in March this year when compared to the same month a year ago, while for the whole of the first quarter, the number of total Maltese passengers departing by air and sea registered a decrease of 10.3 per cent.
A total of 42,213 Maltese passengers chose to fly or depart by sea during the first quarter.
In the period under review, the most frequent destination was the United Kingdom, accounting for 29.2 per cent of the total number of Maltese travelling abroad by air and sea. This was followed by other main destinations - Italy, Belgium and Germany.
In the first three months of 2006, male outbound passengers significantly exceeded female ones, the former accounting for 66.5 per cent of the total.
The greatest proportion of outbound passengers - 46.0 per cent - were aged 25-44 years, followed by passengers in the 45-64 and 15-24 years age brackets, at 44.5 and 5.8 per cent respectively. |
