Thursday, December 14, 2017 - 11:28 by ce-press
During the 2017 cruise season, there were 311 calls to Tallinn, bringing a record-breaking 564,280 passengers. Meanwhile Saaremaa Harbour had five calls bringing 1,513 passengers.
On October 30, the Port of Tallinn together with clients and partners of the Estonian cruise industry gathered at Estonia’s newly-opened Film Museum to sum up this year’s cruise season and discuss future plans.
Ingrid Berezin, cruise and ferry business manager at the port, commented: “During the season 70 different cruise vessels called the harbours increasing cruiseship calls 14.7% compared to 2016. Also, the passenger number hit a whole-time record.”
Aida Cruises made 40 calls, Viking Cruises 24 calls and Royal Caribbean 21. Altogether 16 different cruise companies made calls.
“Next year we are expecting 335 cruiseship calls to Tallinn and 11 cruiseship calls to Saaremaa, bringing to Estonia about 580,000 cruise tourists. We also have the opportunity to welcome the first ever Asian cruise [MSC with Chinese passengers],” added Berezin.
To improve passenger’s experience in Tallinn, Port of Tallinn has started to develop the Old City Harbour area according to the Masterplan 2030 which is now in the structural planning phase. Next comes the detail planning and the architectural contests, business plan and investor search.
A decision will be taken by the end of this year on whether to go ahead with building a new green and innovative cruise terminal which would be financed by the port.
The port plans to introduce more urban development to Old City Harbour and to transform the area into a revitalised urban space that is both attractive and easy to traverse. This development will bring the city closer to the sea whilst improving operations.
