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Malta Eyes Luxury Cruise Growth and Homeporting Expansion

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Malta Eyes Luxury Cruise Growth and Homeporting Expansion

Malta is working to attract more boutique cruise ships and expand homeporting operations, according to Arthur Grima, director of marketing for the Malta Tourism Authority.

In 2025, in addition to 4 million tourists, the destination welcomed 870,560 cruise passengers who visited the country as part of 387 calls.

While overall passenger volume increased by 2.5 percent compared to the previous year, the average number of guests per vessel dropped from 2,339 to 2,250.

According to Grima, the change is related to Malta’s interest in appealing to smaller, more manageable cruise vessels.

“We are attracting a lot of these boutique, smaller ships,” Grima said, highlighting new operations from high-end operators like Ponant, Four Seasons, Orient Express and Aman.

“These are the types of brands and vessels that we are prioritizing because they help us mitigate the crowds. When you have a large ship coming in and 7,000 people enter Valletta at one go, it doesn’t create a nice impression,” he told Cruise Industry News.

In addition to this new focus on smaller vessels, Malta is also expanding the number of overnight cruise calls. The destination saw nearly 46,000 cruisers stay overnight in 2025, up from roughly 30,000 in 2024.

Grima highlighted the economic impact of the longer stays, noting that Malta continues to push for more homeporting business in Valletta.

He said that homeporting operations drive a higher economic impact with pre- and post-cruise hotel stays and additional onshore spending.

Central to the homeporting strategy is the North American market, Grima explained. Guests from the U.S. and Canada currently represent 21 percent of Malta’s total cruise arrivals, making the region the destination’s top source market.

To capitalize on this demographic, Malta is leveraging a new direct Delta Air Lines flight from New York (JFK) launching this June.

“The new Delta flight is a game-changer for us,” Grima said. “It will provide seamless connections for the American visitor. Homeporting is important for us because it works hand in hand with our aviation strategy. It improves connectivity, so it triggers demand both ways.”

The island’s appeal to these passengers and tourists is based on what Grima described as a 9,000-year history.

He said that Malta serves as a historical crossroads of civilizations and offers a unique cultural mix, including a Semitic language written in Latin script and a gastronomy that blends Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors.

Grima added that beyond its Grand Harbour, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the destination is highlighted by the world’s only underground megalithic temple, the Hypogeum, as well as medieval walled cities like Mdina.

To manage visitor flow and enhance sustainability, Malta is also promoting excursions to the island of Gozo via a 60-minute catamaran connection from Valletta.

Smaller ships can also visit Gozo directly and take advantage of a dedicated cruise buoy that facilitates tender operations, he added.

Grima noted that spreading the passenger load across the archipelago is a key pillar of the destination’s long-term strategy.

On the infrastructure side, Valletta Cruise Port can currently accommodate up to six ships simultaneously, including four large vessels and two smaller ones.

The port is also advancing its sustainability efforts through shore power infrastructure, which allows docked ships to turn off their engines and eliminate local emissions.

Malta is also investing in other infrastructure initiatives for tourists, including an expansion of the country’s airport and growth in its hotel inventory with brands like Hard Rock, which is opening a property on the island soon.

“We want the visitors to join us and enjoy our culture. We want them to visit as tourists and leave as locals,” Grima said.

“We see the cruisers as a ‘good investment’ because a lot of them return to Malta for longer stays afterward.”

Photo: Arthur Grima, director of marketing for the Malta Tourism Authority with Michelle Buttigieg, North America Representative Malta Tourism Authority.

MSC World Europa Makes Maiden Call to Valletta

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The MSC World Europa arrived at the port of Valletta on April 19 as part of the ship’s inaugural seven-night West Mediterranean itinerary, according to a statement.

Angelo Capurro, executive director of MSC Cruises, said: “Malta has been an integral part of our operation for nearly 25 years, and we have brought hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers to visit this wonderful island.  We will continue to bring even more guests to Valletta in the future, and we are very proud that MSC World Europa, an ultramodern metropolis at sea, will be a weekly visitor for at least the next 18 months at her port of registry.” 

MSC Cruises also welcomed almost 200 guests onboard the MSC World Europa including government officials, Malta’s Minister for Tourism Clayton Bartolo and local tour operators and agents. 

 The ship, which can accommodate up to 6,762 passengers, will visit Malta’s capital city weekly throughout summer 2023, winter 2023-24 and summer 2024 while sailing seven-night voyages to Italy, Spain and France.

Stephen Xuereb, COO, of Global Ports Holding and CEO, of Valletta Cruise Port, said: “We are proud today to welcome another splendid MSC Cruises’ ship for the first time to our scenic grand harbour, MSC World Europa.  Valletta Cruise Port will host her this year on a further 36 calls as part of her inaugural Mediterranean season until May 2024 and throughout next year she will call Malta on another 52 occasions. 

MSC Cruises is the key cruise line calling Valletta, and it is our pleasure to collaborate continuously with MSC, a relationship which has, over the years, left an enduring mark on an evolving cruise industry.  On behalf of both Valletta Cruise Port and Global Ports Holding, we congratulate MSC Cruises on its achievements and look forward to many more years of fruitful joint cooperation.”

The World Europa is the ​​largest ship in the cruise line’s fleet and the first to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Passengers on Mediterranean cruise test positive for covid-19

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Two passengers tested positive for the coronavirus during routine checks aboard a Mediterranean cruise this week, MSC Cruises said.

The passengers, who were asymptomatic, got their positive test results on Monday, according to MSC Cruises spokesman Luca Biondolillo. They were not travelling together on the MSC Seaside. Biondolillo said the individuals and their travelling groups, as well as close contacts, were immediately isolated, and no one aside from the original two passengers tested positive.

According to the Times of Malta, the vessel was not allowed to make a regular call-in to Malta’s Valletta cruise port Monday. Instead, Biondolillo said, the ship made a “technical call” — where passengers don’t disembark — and then resumed its regular schedule with a stop in Sicily.

Both passengers and their parties left the ship in Siracusa, on the island of Sicily, and were taken home “by protected MSC Cruises transport” Tuesday, the cruise company said. The ship continued its normal schedule after the Siracusa stop.

“All of this took place in line with the protocol and in coordination with the local health authorities,” Biondolillo said in an email Wednesday.

Passengers on MSC ships are not required to be vaccinated, but they have to undergo several tests: two to three days before leaving for a cruise, just before getting on the ship and midway through the cruise, Biondolillo said.

“If anything, this is another demonstration that the protocol works,” he said.

The company started sailing in the Mediterranean in August 2020 and has seen “a handful such cases” since, Biondolillo said, adding that “many thousands” of passengers have sailed safely.

Cruise ships have slowly started service again around the world, but still have not resumed in the United States since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut the industry down last March. The agency is not requiring cruise ships to sail with vaccinated passengers but will allow those with at least 95 per cent of vaccinated crew and guests to skip test cruises meant to show how they will deal with covid-19 risks.

The first cruise from U.S. shores with paying passengers is scheduled to set sail later this month. The Celebrity Cruises ship will require everyone 16 and older to be fully vaccinated — a condition that comes into conflict with a Florida law that says businesses can’t ask for proof of vaccination status.

MSC Cruises, which is headquartered in Geneva, announced this week that it plans to start short cruises on MSC Meraviglia from Miami to the Bahamas on Aug. 2. The company recently got approval from the CDC to conduct a test cruise on that vessel.

The company said it will “welcome both vaccinated and non-vaccinated guests,” with those who are not vaccinated subject to additional testing and restrictions. Rubén Rodriguez, president of MSC Cruises USA, said in a statement that he expects the majority of passengers will be vaccinated.

“The rapid distribution of vaccines in the U.S. has been a positive step toward helping vacationers get back to travelling, and we encourage our guests to take advantage of this added layer of protection when resuming travel this summer,” he said.