Friday, October 30, 2015 - 11:04 by ce-press
Trondheim has been conducting a survey of passengers this summer. Almost 2,000 people, or 7% during 26 of 50 calls, were asked a number of questions with the following responses. Almost 100% enjoyed the call in Trondheim with 47% highlighting the Nidaros Cathedral, 17% the old town (Bakklandet) and 14% Kristiansten Fortress. In addition the atmosphere, local people and cleanliness of the town received accolades.
In terms of spending, 58% had made purchases with an average of NKr200 (E21) spent on shopping, food, entry tickets and public transport. This figure does not include shore excursions but if it did the statistics would match up with those which Innovation Norway conducted in 2014. These found that passengers spent on average Nk860 (E91) on each call, according to Maria Kuhnl, cruise coordinator Trondheim Havn.
The city was able to get an accurate account of how many people left the ship due to cabin card exit and entry from the ship. In the first two to three hours about 82% of passengers disembarked into the Norwegian town.
Quite a lot of thought has been put into improving the shore excursion programme and next summer a family programme will go live for the first time. In addition more active tours will be offered.
TUI Cruises is returning to the port in 2016 after a long absence. Mein Schiff 1 and 5 will call a total of six times. Queen Mary 2 returns and in 2017 AIDA Cruises will make six calls between February and April. “We are now trying to find winter products and encourage others to come off-season,” explained Kuhnl. One of the winter attractions is the world heritage town Roros, located two and half hours away, which is a ‘winter wonderland’ of ancient houses and horse and sleighs.
Next year there will once again be over 50 calls but bringing 22,000 more passengers. As far as 2017 is concerned, Kuhnl commented: “We are happy to see how 2017 numbers are developing.”
This July a new promenade was opened along the fjord allowing passengers to make a one and a half hour circular walk along the waterfront and into the city.
