Nine million euros this past spring to update Cinderella and return the vessel to sailing under the Finnish flag.
Nearly 1.8 million passengers travelled on Viking Line’s vessels during June–August 2024. The greatest increase in demand was on the Tallinn route, which also had more departures than in previous summer seasons.
This summer, passengers were drawn by the various attractions in Estonia and the other Baltic countries, to Åland as depicted in the historical film Stormskärs Maja, and by a refurbished Viking Cinderella.
Viking Line served nearly 1.8 million passengers during the June–August summer season just ended.
“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 bigger 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,” says Viking Line’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Johanna Boijer-Svahnström.
The number of passengers increased most—more than 11 percent—on the Tallinn route, which is served by Viking Cinderella and Gabriella alongside Viking XPRS. The route had a total of 732,000 passengers 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,” notes Johanna Boijer-Svahnström.
The cheap Swedish krona
In July, it was 50 years since Viking Line launched 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 passengers sailed with Gabriella and Viking Cinderella on the Helsinki–Stockholm route. Viking Line’s market share on the route climbed to 44 percent.
“We invested nine million euros 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.”
Åland’s attractiveness
On the route between Turku, Mariehamn and Stockholm, the most climate-smart vessels on the Baltic Sea – Viking Glory and Viking Grace – served 747,000 passengers during the period June–August. Viking Line’s market share on the route is nearly 70 percent.
“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,” says Johanna Boijer-Svahnström.
Source : Press-release
