Over 10 million passengers in 2012

On 7 December, the 10th millionth passenger of the year arrived in the Port of Helsinki aboard Viking Mariella. The lucky passenger was Barbro Henriksson from Tammisaari who was returning from a trip to Sweden with her friend Ros-Maj Grönqvist. According to Mrs Henriksson, the honour came as a complete surprise: ‘This feels completely unreal!’ The cruise was her second this year, and she also intends to go and spend Christmas near Tallinn.

The landmark of 10 million passengers was first achieved last year.

This year the landmark was achieved two weeks earlier than last year, which demonstrates the increase in cruise ship travel.

­The Port of Helsinki is the largest passenger port in Finland. The share of the Port of Helsinki of the passenger traffic in all the ports in Finland is 78%. Passenger traffic has increased steadily over the years, and this year the threshold of 10 million passengers was exceeded for the second time.  

Previous landmarks:  

1 million passengers in 1975
2 million passengers in 1984
3 million passengers in 1989
4 million passengers in 1991
5 million passengers in 1992
6 million passengers in 1993
7 million passengers in 1995
8 million passengers in 1997
9 million passengers in 2009
10 million passengers in 2011

The most popular line was between Helsinki and Tallinn with 7.5 million passengers in 2012. Travel between Finland and Estonia has increased due to work-based traffic. Travel for hobbies has also increased. The second busiest line is between Helsinki and Stockholm with 2.5 million passengers. The amount of Russian passengers in travel between Finland and Sweden has increased.

The ship connection to St Petersburg, which was opened in April 2010, has also been popular. This year that line has carried nearly 400,000 passengers. There are two ships travelling the line.

The increase in the amount of cruise passengers is important to the tourism industry and prosperity of the region and the entire country. According to calculations, a single cruise passenger brings EUR 234 to Finland, amounting to a total of MEUR 320 in 2011.

Additional information:
Managing Director Kimmo Mäki
Tel. +358 (0)9 310 33500 or +358 (0)40 721 8332