‘This is a sign that the Spanish company has been right on target and that there is a market and a demand for Northern Norway,' commented Storl.
'They want the Midnight Sun, the North Cape and the Lofoten Islands. The logistics which are planned in Porsanger provide a foundation for a new type of tourist development. For the first time we can bring genuine Sami culture and adventure tourism to a vast international cruise market through Lakselv’s proximity to the Sami village Karasjok. This will strengthen the attractiveness of the North Cape Turnaround Port in the market’, added Storl.
In addition to Lakselv and Bodø, the ports of Murmansk, Honningsvåg, Alta, Tromsø and Leknes will also be visited by Empress in 2015.
New ECA requirements being phased in from January 1, makes turnaround operations on fly-cruises into Lakselv and the North Cape Turnaround Port an attractive proposition, remarked Storl.
‘That the Nordkapp Region Port Authority, Finnmark County Council, the Sami Parliament and Innovation Norway proactively and financially have contributed to the realization of the logistics for a turnaround port in the north, is contributing in the short run to thousands of new guests who will visit the region,’ says Hege Jernsletten in the NCTP Project, Porsanger in Development KF.
‘It is also gratifying to note that in addition to Pullmantur’s two turnarounds in 2015, the company is now considering putting in an additional ship in Lakselv in 2016,’ said Per A. Amundsen, chairman of North Cape Turnaround Port.
‘The Spanish have really opened up their eyes to cruising in Northern Norway,’ he remarked.
