Russian tour operators are scaling down or
seriously reducing the volume of sales of sea cruises departing from St Petersburg. According
to them, this segment of the market is not capable of growth, while the cost of
tour programs remains at the present level. The main competition to the Baltic
cruises departing from the Northern Capital comes from the tours available to
the Mediterranean Sea, which have significantly dropped in price due to the
financial crisis in Europe.
According to the general director of the
company “Breeze Line” Maxim Radionovsky, in the past year or two cruises to the
Mediterranean have dropped in price drastically, becoming nearly 4 times
cheaper, while the tour product of St Petersburg continues to rise steadily in
price: “Even when you take into consideration the flight fares to and from the
place of departure, the price of a two week cruise around the Mediterranean
will cost around 1200 euro. That’s significantly cheaper than a trip to St Petersburg and an
analogical cruise around the Baltic region, which will cost up to 2000 euro”.
There is no doubt that this difference in price pulls the demand towards the
benefit of the more southern direction. Mr Rodionovsky remembers a similar
situation which occurred only a year prior, in result of which “Breeze Line”
cut down on the offers of cruises available around the Baltic.
The director of marketing of the company
“Via Maris” Elena Karmanova also believes that the price of cruises departing
from St Petersburg has ceased to be competitive: “This kind of trip is only
relevant for those people who don’t want to waste time on flights (getting to
and from the point of departure) The demand is there, but there’s really no
reason to expect any growth in the near future”. At the same time, in Ms
Karmanova’s opinion, the conditions of contract which the cruise companies
sign, where whole blocks of cabins are booked and purchased in advance, and for
a whole chain of cruises, get in the way of tour operators adapting their price
policies to the realities of the current market.
The general director of the company “Neptune” Olga Eliseeva, also supports her colleagues from
the travel sector: “We’ve stopped selling cruises in this direction two years
ago, when it became obvious that the market had had enough of this offer.
Tourists had had plenty of time to study the Baltic area through and through.
There might be more interest in a cruise around the Norwegian Fjords, but it
doesn’t necessarily have to start in St
Petersburg. For example, a flight from Moscow to Copenhagen can
cost the same as to St Petersburg”.
Nowadays there are a couple ferry transport
lines working in St Petersburg
- Tallink and Silja Line, and also а few cruise companies - MSC, Costa
Cruises and Princess Cruises. Two years ago a native ferry operator came on to
the market, the company St. Peter Line, which carries out cruises on two ferry
ships “Princess Maria” and “Princess Anastasia”. In this way, the city is in
constant communication with Finland,
Sweden, Estonia, Norway,
Denmark and Germany. The
United States owned company Norwegian Cruise line has also recently
demonstrated an interest in St Petersburg, announcing the launch on the 27th
of June, of a new cruise line departing
from the Northern capital with visits to Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, the
German city Warnemunde and Tallinn.
It’s interesting that tour operators in St Petersburg don’t completely agree with the opinions of
their colleagues from Moscow,
regarding cruises from the Northern capital. The president of the St Peter Line
Company Igor Glukhov recognizes the relative drop in demand, but mostly from
the side of Finnish tourists, who react to the financial crisis with in the
Euro zone more noticeably. “After all we are selling a tour product, which is
specifically adapted to the Russian public, with Russian speaking services,
traditional food and so on. So the processes which are happening now in the
Southern European Cruise market really don’t affect us that much at all.
Vessels usually depart filled to around 80% of total capacity” tells Mr
Glukhnov.
Andrei Mushkarev, the general director of
the Inflot Cruise and Ferry company, the official representative and agent of
the St Peter Line in St Petersburg, has brought forward the following
statistics, according to which the number of people on board the ferry line
route St Petersburg – Helsinki has risen 60% in the current year, and the
demand for cruises around the Baltic capitals with visits to Stockholm and
Tallinn up 40%. “The prices have definitely increased when compared to the
previous year. But this happened mainly because of the fact that we have
introduced additional services – an increase in the number of recreational
activities on board, the opening of extra bars and restaurants”, explains Mr Mushkarev.
The general director of the St Petersburg company “Expo-tour” Igor Riurikov, also
believes that the constant demand in that direction is guaranteed by the
ultra-convenient location of St Petersburg
itself: “I haven’t noticed that the demand for cruises to the Mediterranean
grew proportionally to the fall in popularity of cruises departing from St Petersburg. Yes, tour
programs around the Mediterranean Sea can cost
400 euro and are of course cheaper than the Baltic cruises. But on the other
hand, any tour product should be looked upon and examined as a total package.
Taking into consideration the flight tickets for those residents of St Petersburg, the total price of a cruise trip around the
Mediterranean Sea can actually end up being
significantly higher”.
