Cruise ship companies are bypassing the Baltic Sea this year due to the war in Ukraine, according to a representative of the Klaipėda Port.
"Cruise companies' profits were very low last year due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and high energy costs, which made cruises more expensive, and this is why some cruise companies are either not sending ships at all or are cutting their cruises," Kristina Gontier, international relations Manager at the Klaipėda State Seaport Authority, told reporters.
Klaipėda has seen the smallest drop she said, while the northern Baltic ports of Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm have suffered the most with a threefold drop in ship visits this year.
Romena Savickienė, director of the Klaipeda Tourism and Culture Information Center, said fewer ships were coming to Klaipeėa due to the removal of the Russian port of Saint Petersburg from the route because of the war.
"Saint Petersburg has always been the jewel in the crown of Baltic cruising. [Companies] are changing their routes and looking into all sorts of options, all sorts of ports, and perhaps we are not always on that list," Savickienė said.
The Baltic ports are changing their tourism strategy to exclude Saint Petersburg, Gontier said.
In her words, Klaipėda expects more passengers this year as the occupancy rate has doubled to 80 percent.
Last year, the cruise season in Klaipėda started on April 11 and ended on October 8 when 61 ships with almost 47,000 passengers visited the port. The season is scheduled to end on September 17 this year.
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