Study finds high visitor satisfaction, spending at Cruise Baltic ports

Passengers and crew spent €145m on tours and other ground transportation, accounting for 41% of total expenditure. Purchase of retail goods totaled €67.8m, accounting for 19% of total spending by passengers and crew.

Cruise line spending in 2015 included an estimated €355.8m throughout the region at Cruise Baltic ports.

Expenditure by the cruise lines and their passengers and crew totaled €708.6m, up from €685.9m in 2013, when the last study was conducted. The transportation sector, primarily tour operators and cruise ports, had the highest direct impact with €266m, 37% of total expenditure, followed by the manufacturing sector with €138.8m, 20% of the direct expenditure.

Overall satisfaction levels remain high. Some 92% of passengers said their visit met or exceeded expectations, and cruisers were very satisfied with their overall visit, with a mean score of 4.15 on a 1 to 5 scale.

Courtesy of employees and historic sites/museums received the highest mean scores, 4.20 and 4.18 respectively. Some 81% of the survey respondents were either extremely or very satisfied with each.

'I am extremely pleased that this survey has shown, once again, that the Baltic Sea region has one of the highest satisfaction scores globally,' Cruise Baltic director Claus Bødker said. 'The results indicate that we are on the right course of achieving our vision, to create the world’s best cruise experience.'

Cruise Baltic is a network of 29 cruise destinations offering access to 10 countries.