Copenhagen and Visby see record number of winter cruise calls

Some 50,000 passengers are projected on 18 calls.

This is a chance for cruisers to experience the Danish capital in new ways and the medieval UNESCO World Heritage city of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland during winter. For local businesses and cultural institutions, it is an opportunity to host visitors during what is normally a slower tourist season.

One-off or series calls

Thanks to targeted work, more ships are arriving during late autumn and winter, either as one-off cruises or in a series, such as AIDA Cruises' AIDAnova winter deployment in the Nordic region with seven calls to Copenhagen and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' Hanseatic Nature with five calls at Copenhagen and Visby.

Moreover, a number of ships are visiting during the holidays with seven Christmas calls in Copenhagen and two in Visby plus two New Year's Eve calls in Copenhagen.

Year-round aspiration

'[Copenhagen Malmö Port] is working with all destination stakeholders, cruise lines, CruiseCopenhagen, Cruise Baltic and other ports in the region to create products and offers that reflect the different times of the year,' CMP's Luis De Carvalho, commercial cruise director, said.

'Our goal is to continue to expand the season into the autumn, winter and spring months to complement the already successful summer season and create an “all year around” season. This is a work in progress, but we see great interest from cruise lines which gives us the motivation to continue our work.'

12 months of calls in 2024

CMP is expecting approximately 389 cruise calls and 940.000 passengers in Malmö, Visby and Copenhagen in 2023. Next year cruise ships are projected to call at Copenhagen during all 12 months, making the Danish capital a year-round destination.