Prior to the event CruiseNorway, Cruise Baltic, VisitStockholm and CruiseCopenhagen revealed traffic numbers for last year and the season ahead.
In 2016, 4,333,529 passengers visit the Baltic Sea region representing a 1.2% increase over 2015; while in 2017, passenger, call and turnaround figures all expected to reach record levels, remarked Claus Bødker, Cruise Baltic director.
Rostock saw the highest growth rate last year of 14% with 553,000 passengers compared to 485,000 in 2015; Copenhagen also increased with rates of 9.3% from 2015 to 2016, at 740,000.
Copenhagen was once again the largest turnaround port with 139, marking an increase of 11% compared to 2015; Rostock and Kiel both experienced an increase of 12,6% and 15.3% respectively; Kiel grew by 15.3% to 136 turns.
In 2017 turnaround expectations will increase in three of the ports: by 35% at Stockholm, by 9.4% in Copenhagen and by 4.7% for Rostock.
In the larger ports, with between 50 - 199 calls - comprising Rostock, Kiel, Oslo, Klaipeda, Riga and Kristiansand – growth of passenger numbers continued at 7.9% in 2016, from 1,339,881 passengers in 2015 to 1,445,662 in 2016. In total the ports had 591 calls in 2016 and will increase in 2017 by 2.2% to 604 calls.
Four ports receiving up to 24 calls last year: Karlskrona, Helsingborg, Kalmar and Elsinore, each grew more than 100% in 2016. For 2017 overall passenger figures are expected to grow by 90.7% and calls in this segment are expected to increase by 70.4% to 196 calls.
Looking ahead to a record 2017, Bødker shared, passengers to the Cruise Baltic destinations are expected to increase by 13% compared to 2016 with an additional 561,972 passengers to a total of almost 4.9m.
The number of calls to Cruise Baltic ports is expected to rise 15.2% with as 2,492 calls anticipated.
The number of turnarounds will go from 460 in 2016 to an estimated 477 in 2017.
Passengers at Stockholm, St Petersburg and Copenhagen will grow (34%, 17.5% and 14.9% respectively this year ); Rostock will remain stable, while only Kiel is expecting a decrease of -13.5%.
St. Petersburg, Rostock, Copenhagen and Stockholm are expected to receive their highest number of cruise guests ever.
Bødker commented, 'I believe 2017 will prove to be a particularly significant and positive year for our Baltic Sea destinations – we are expecting the highest number of cruise guests and the highest number of turnarounds with several ports achieving record high numbers.'
Switching hats to director of CruiseCopenhagen, Bødker reported that 2017 will again see a significant growth in Danish cruise business. In fact, for the first time ever, Denmark is expected to welcome more than 1 million cruise passengers and over 300,00 crew.
The number of passengers visiting the nine Danish ports members of CruiseCopenhagen in 2016 totalled 866,048; and in summer 2017, 491 cruise ships will bring 1,051,393 cruise visiotrs, an increase of 21.4%.Copenhagen will achieve a record figure of 850,000 cruise passengers, which is an increase of 110,000 from 2016.
'Not surprising,' commented Arnt Pedersen coo Copenhagen Malmo Port, when 55 ships in 2017 will bring more than 4,000 passengers a visit to Denmark's capital. This compares to just 14 last year.
He revealed that the port is hoping to get the green light in April to start building a 370mtr long cruise berth and (fourth) terminal at Ocean Quay, representing US$40m investment to be ready by 2020.
In addition, four Danish ports of Skagen with 39,239 passengers (10,800 in 2016), Fredericia, 12,087 passengers (6,746 in 2016), Aalborg 31,269 passengers (18,380 in 2016) and Aarhus with 90,806 passengers (71,804 in 2016) will each welcome record numbers of cruise passengers.
Cruise Norway, managing director Sandra Diana Bratland revealed Norwegian ports welcomed 1,809 calls last year accounting for over 2.7m day passengers and for 2017 if all the the anticipated 1,887 ships arrive then 2017 will see over 3m day passengers visiting, 'which is an exciting record'.
Top five ports in 2016 were Bergen, Geirangerfjord, Stavanger, Flåm and Ålesund and if 2017 pans out as expected, Stavanger and Geirangerfjord will swap places for second and third place, respectively, Bratland said.
She noted both in 2016 and 2017, Norway hosted cruise calls in all of the year's 12 months, 'which is great news and an important step towards becoming an all-year cruise destination.'
Most the calls (84%) are still in the May to August period; however, 'we see that October is very much on the rise with two calls in 2016 and 27 calls in 2017, whilst December saw two calls lasst year and seven booked this year.'
VisitStockholm marjeting manager Christian Bergström informed the city is set to welcome 270 cruise ships this year and is investing heavily in infrastructure to accommodate the larger ships visiting Sweden.
A new 460mtr long pier will be ready in 2020 which will also house a terminal for turnarounds which are set to rise from 57 last year to 75 in 2017.
Henrik Ahlqvist, manager cruise and ferry Ports of Stockholm reported the SeaWalk installed at Nynasham, located 60km away from the city, newly installed last year, performed very well and will accommodate 20 ship calls this year.
He also announced Stockholm will receive its first New Year's call on December 31 2016, an overnight by Saga Sapphire.
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