Lower Port Charges for Cruise Ships in St. Petersburg

Cruise companies of St. Petersburg will try to woo tourists during the off-season by means of introducing discounts on port charges for cruise ships, irrespective of their class.

As part of this campaign, in 2014 ‘Passenger port of St. Petersburg “Marine Facade”’ (the most advanced passenger terminal in the city) is going to introduce 50% discounts on port charges for the ships that enter the port during the off-season. This information was announced on a press-conference by Serik Zhusupov, the President of LLC ‘Marine Facade’.

According to Zhusupov, in 2013 passenger traffic of the port increased 19% compared to the last year – up to 503.25 thousand people, with passenger turnover exceeding one million people.

“This is a record, and the highest index among all the other ports in the Baltic,” he said. This year a total of 261 ships entered the port, which is 15% more than last year.

Still, the management of the port sees new opportunities for increasing cruise passenger traffic, especially in the off-season.

“We are determined to take the initiative of introducing port charge discounts in the period from April 15 to October 15 to the Ministry of Transport,” said Zhusupov, adding that discounts will cover all vessels calling at ‘Marine Facade’, regardless of their class.

 According to Zhusupov, the initiative has already been taken up by ‘Rosmorport’. The discount system can come into effect as early as autumn 2014.

Travel authorities of St. Petersburg support the idea of ‘Marine Facade’. In an interview with TRN, Deputy Head of St. Petersburg’s Travel Committee Alexandr Shapkin said: “a cruise passenger is integral to the economy of inbound tourism. A 19% passenger traffic increase for “Marine Facade” alone is a significant index that is factored into the city’s economy.”

According to projected results, 6.6-6.7 million tourists will visit St. Petersburg in 2013, which is a 10% year-on-year increase. This year most tourists came from Germany, Finland, Denmark and Holland. Also, there has been a surge of interest in the city from the Chinese population, which Shapkin ascribes to the years of cross-tourism of Russia in China and of China in Russia.

Regarding the plans for 2014, ‘Marine Façade’ is determined to keep up this year’s performance: already as many as 239 ships are slated to take part in the next year’s voyages, and by the end of the year the total number of ship calls can exceed 300. Zhusupov also added that the number of arriving passengers was subject to change depending on the passenger capacity of ships calling at the port.

Summer navigation for 2014 starts on April 16.

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