Record year for Christmas cruises to Gothenburg

On Sunday, the first Christmas cruise ship will arrive at the Port of Gothenburg – the Amadea with 600 German guests on board. This will mark the beginning of the best Christmas season ever. Five cruise ships are due to visit Gothenburg in December, carrying over 6, 000 passengers.  

December is perhaps not the month you would automatically associate with a cruise. Many ports in the Nordic region are closed to cruise ships during the winter because of restrictions – Stockholm for example. But not Gothenburg. An increasing number of cruise tourists are coming here to experience the Christmas atmosphere of Gothenburg. This year, 6,000 people will be arriving compared with 2,240 last year.

One reason for the increase is the active collaboration between Göteborg & Co and the Port of Gothenburg.

"When we began working together in 2008, Gothenburg didn't have one single visit by a Christmas cruise ship. But with the intensification of our marketing of the port and the city, there has been a gradual increase in interest," says Jill Söderwall, Head of Cruise Operations at the Port of Gothenburg.

The majority of Christmas cruise tourists are from the UK and Germany. They visit Christmas at Liseberg, they see the light show at Götaplatsen, they buy Christmas presents and they go on guided tours around the city. Christmas City Gothenburg is in fact ranked among the 10 best Christmas markets in Europe (according to the travel website Travelbites).

Conclusion of a record-breaking year
When the Christmas season is over, Gothenburg can look back on the best cruise year ever. A total of 70 vessels and 84,000 passengers visited the city. Last year, 52 vessels arrived, carrying 64,000 passengers.

"We had more calls this year than planned because of a pilot strike in Oslo but even without that we would have still broken the record," states Jill Söderwall.

Some 50 per cent of the guests are German, 23 per cent are British and 10 per cent are American. A trend in recent years is for travellers from farther afield to find their way to Gothenburg. This year, for example, the city was visited by 924 Mexicans, 930 Japanese and 1,047 Canadians.

Gothenburg compares well with the capital cities
When the shipping lines arrange their routes, the capital cities are often booked first. Then they book supplementary destinations, such as Gothenburg. During the summer, a survey was carried out among cruise tourists to find out how Gothenburg was perceived compared to Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

"Second cities don't usually rank as highly as the capitals but Gothenburg came out very well in the comparison, states Sara Eriksson, Head of Cruise Operations at Göteborg & Co.

All four cities in the survey received very good – and quite similar – assessments. The strongest attributes associated with Gothenburg are easy to like, welcoming, relaxed, active, clean and youthful.

"The survey provides us with confirmation that the value words we use in our marketing are also the way in which the city is perceived. We will now be looking more closely at the results to see how we can refine our marketing even further," concludes Sara Eriksson.

För mer information kontakta Cecilia Carlsson, kommunikationsansvarig Göteborgs Hamn AB, 031-731 22 45, cecilia.carlsson@portgot.se.

Fact file: Number of calls to Gothenburg by cruise ships, 2000-2012

2000 – 9 calls, 3,400 passengers

2001 – 13 calls, 3,600 passengers

2002 – 5 calls, 2,400 passengers

2003 – 13 calls, 5,500 passengers

2004 – 18 calls, 14,200 passengers

2005 – 20 calls, 12,700 passengers

2006 – 18 calls, 11,300 passengers

2007 – 23 calls, 11,400 passengers

2008 – 18 calls, 12,400 passengers

2009 – 34 calls, 36,000 passengers

2010 – 41 calls, 51,700 passengers

2011 – 52 calls, 64,000 passengers

2012 – 70 calls, 84 000 passengers

Christmas calls
2010 – 1 call, 1,300 passengers

2011 – 2 calls, 2,200 passengers

2012 – 5 calls, 6,000 passengers

Nationalities 2012

German      50 per cent

British          23 per cent

American     7 per cent

Canadian      1 per cent

Mexican       1 per cent

Japanese      1 per cent

Largest vessel in 2012
Queen Mary II
345 m long
148,528 GT
2,800 passengers

Smallest vessel in 2012
Star Flyer, sailing vessel
111.6 m long
2,298 GT
180 passengers

Most different
Japan Grace with the vessel Peace Boat. The shipping line is based in Japan and is run as a non-profit organisation. They focus on promoting human rights, peace, sustainable development, energy provision and the environment. During the stopover in Gothenburg they visited, among other things, the thermal power plant at Sävenäs. There were 1,000 Japanese on board, many from the disaster area of Fukushima.

Most luxurious
Seabourn Sojourn: 450 passengers
Silversea, Silver Cloud: 296 passengers
The focus is on luxury and elegance and the primary target group is wealthy Americans aged 50-55+. Everything is included on board.
They offer unique trips and programmes for their guests. The call in Gothenburg includes lunch at Sjömagasinet and excursions out into the archipelago and to the stately home at Tjolöholm.

Vessels making their maiden visit
Saga Sapphire
Seabourn Sojourn
Queen Mary II
Star Flyer
Peace Boat
AidaLuna
Oceana
Oriana
Costa Fortuna

Best improvement
The new terminal building at Arendal to improve service for guests, crew and those working ashore during the calls. Located beside the Volvo Museum, the terminal building is approximately 200 square metres in size. There is an information desk, souvenir sales, toilets, storage areas and free WiFi.