Nearly 1.8 mill pax travelled on Viking Line’s vessels between June/August, 2024, the ferry operator reported.
The greatest increase in demand was on the Tallinn route, which also saw more departures than in previous summer seasons.
“Summer is the peak season for cruises, and we prepare meticulously for this. This summer, we further increased capacity on the Tallinn route. The offering on the Helsinki/Stockholm route was also larger than last year, with ‘Cinderella’ reassigned permanently to this route during the spring.
“There is demand for increased capacity, and despite fully booked vessels, it is gratifying to know that we received very high marks for customer satisfaction this summer. All in all, the 2024 cruise summer was very successful for us,” Viking Line’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, said.
The number of passengers increased the most – more than 11% – on the Tallinn route, which is served by ‘Viking Cinderella’ and ‘Gabriella’ alongside ‘Viking XPRS’. The route welcomed a total of 732,000 pax during the June/August period.
“The growing popularity of voyages to Estonia seems to be a sustained trend, but travel here has changed. Our neighbour to the south has also become a favourite destination for families with children, and people also travel with growing frequency via Tallinn to other parts of Estonia, the other Baltic countries and elsewhere in Europe,” noted Boijer-Svahnström.
“Prices in Estonia are still reasonable, but reasonable prices are no longer the biggest reason why Finns choose Estonia as a holiday destination. Estonia has quite simply become a fantastic travel destination, with many interesting museums, natural attractions and events. The restaurants on offer are also attractive and varied, outside Tallinn as well,” she said.
In July, Viking Line celebrated 50 years since it launched a passenger service between Helsinki and Stockholm. The route, which connects the two Nordic capitals, has always been important, and during this anniversary year a total of 274,000 pax sailed with ‘Gabriella’ and ‘Viking Cinderella’ on the Helsinki/Stockholm route. As a result, Viking Line’s market share on the route climbed to 44%.
“We invested €9 mill this past spring to update ‘Cinderella’ and return the vessel to sailing under the Finnish flag. Our legendary vessel has sparked enormous interest, and the cheap Swedish krona also continued to affect Sweden’s attractiveness as a destination,“ Boijer-Svahnström said.
Along with services to Stockholm and Tallinn, ‘Viking Cinderella’ and ‘Gabriella’ made seven special cruises to Visby this summer. Gotland’s county capital is very popular in Finland, and these special departures sold out during the spring. In October and November, Viking Line will arrange two more special cruises to Visby.
On the route between Turku, Mariehamn and Stockholm, the most climate-smart vessels on the Baltic Sea – ‘Viking Glory’ and ‘Viking Grac’e – served 747,000 pax during the period June/August. Viking Line’s market share on the route is nearly 70%.
“Despite tougher competition on the west coast routes, our passenger volume was nearly the same as last summer. Åland got a lot of attention this past winter when the film Stormskärs Maja premiered. I can note, for instance, that the tours we arrange in the footsteps of Stormskärs Maja were a big hit. We also had many golf passengers this summer – which is not surprising since the Åland-based Slottsbanan course was named Finland’s best golf course last spring. Åland is also an excellent destination later in the autumn, for example, for nature tourists and people who fish,” she added.
The number of foreign tourists has also increased steadily on Viking Line’s vessels since the COVID pandemic. In the past three summer months, the number of Chinese tourists was three times higher than the figure last year. The number of German and Polish passengers also increased significantly, as did the number of South Koreans and Americans.
“People from southern and central Europe want to escape the extreme heat during their summer holiday months, and we also see signs of this phenomenon. We believe that climate tourism to the north will only get stronger, which means increased interest in Finland, the other Nordics and the Baltic countries.
“The summer season ends abruptly when people go back to work. From the tourism industry’s perspective, it would be very desirable to have the school summer holidays end later in August,” Boijer-Svahnström said.
