Prospects of cruise tourism in Russia

Saint-Petersburg is the first in the Baltic region in terms of the number of tourists arriving by water while the Southern Basin is anxious about resolving the situation with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Arctic regions and the Far East are busy developing new water related tourism projects.

Hindered by neighbors or local bureaucracy?

Russia is presently deeply concerned about the tourism season in Crimea the economy of which depends significantly on this. The millionth tourist from Russia was welcomed on the peninsula on June 27, 2014 while Dmitry Amunts, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm), expressed much optimism about the future of cruise shipping Crimea at the VI International Forum “Sea Tourism” recently held in Saint-Petersburg. According to him, the number of cruise ships to call at Crimea in 2014 is expected to be similar to that of the previous year. Dmitry Amunts says foreign cruise companies, including European ones, consider cooperation with Crimean ports. 

According to Rosturizm statistics, the ports of Crimea were visited by 144 passenger ships in 2013 (+45%, year-on-year) including 58 ocean going liners and 577 calls of river-sea class vessels. During the past year, Yalta saw 108 calls of ocean going liners and 16 calls of river-sea class vessels.

Dmitry Amunts says Sevastopol alone is to welcome 62 ocean going liners and 51 passenger ships of river-sea class. In particular, the call of large cruise ships with passenger capacity of about 2,000 persons each are scheduled for July 5 and 19, 2014.

However, Crimean shipping development is hindered by the position of Ukraine and international community concerning the peninsula status. Ukrainian authorities have already promised to persecute shipping companies operating vessels that call at Crimean ports. Some vessels, cargo carriers, have already encountered problems with entering Ukrainian ports after calling at Crimea. So operators of cruise lines will have to avoid entering either Crimean or Ukrainian ports. 

Besides, cruise operators can suffer the pressure of their countries’ governments, which is also to have a negative impact on shipping in Crimea and other ports of the Southern Basin. Yet, an agreement has been achieved with Turkey (NATO member) on operation of Sochi-Yalta-Istanbul line.

Meanwhile, Turkey has increased payment for passing the Straits for vessels of certain depth which also has a negative impact on the entire Black Sea cruise market.

Nevertheless, geopolitical situation and the policy of foreign states is not the only obstacle for the dev of cruise shipping in the Southern Basin of Russia. According to Sergey Pryadko, Director of Inflot Worldwide Tours, the problems are in the lack of guides, insufficient promotion of tourism brands and locations, complicated border control procedures. He considers express lines Crimea-Kavkaz, Yalta and Sevastopol to be the most promising passenger lines.

Aleksandr Belkin, head of cruise subdivision of Commercial Seaport of Sochi OJSC, says port dues are too high in Russia. He also notes there are not enough guides and says that centralized approach should be applied here

Northern course

Cruise transportation in the Baltic Basin is a success. The year of 2013 saw the number of cruise passengers arriving in Saint-Petersburg to exceed the result of Copenhagen (Denmark), the former leader. It was driven by the operation of Marine Façade, new passenger terminal, together with the introduction of 72-hour visa-free stay for foreign travelers coming by cruise ships.

There are some problems, though. The project on construction of a river terminal at Marine Façade which would let tourists escape traffic problems on their way to the city center moves nowhere. According to Inna Shalyto, Chairman of Municipal Tourism Development Committee, the project is still at the stage of search for investor. The problem will be partially solved by completion of the Western High-Speed Diameter.

Also, Nordic Yards has announced the project on construction of an outer port near Gorskaya station (Saint-Petersburg) which implies building of air-cushion vessels powered by liquefied natural gas. Such passenger vessels are supposed to link Gorskaya with Tallinn, Riga, Helsinki, Baltijsk, Pori, Stockholm and Rostock. Read more about this project in the new edition of “Port Service. Bunkering Market” journal.

While on the subject of the Baltic Sea we should mention the project of marine passenger terminal with a yacht marina in the Kaliningrad Region.

Cruise shipping is supposed to be developed in northern regions as well. Earlier we covered the project on construction of an Arctic Harbour, a project similar to that of Marine Façade. 

Besides, Dmitry Amunts says they are working on the idea to develop a tourist route Shpitsbergen - , прорабатывается вопрос об организации туристического маршрута Spitzbergen - Franz Josef Land with passengers to board in Barentsburg. Rosturizm hopes to attract some tourists visiting Spitzbergen, some 80,000 tourists per year. The interest of tourists to the Northern Sea Route is gradually increasing. 

Insight into the issue

Russia is not only a country of seas. It is also a country of rivers and lakes being a focus of considerable interest of tourists. Therefore, Russian Ministry of Transport has drafted a law providing for application of 72-hour visa-free policy to foreigners arriving in Russia by sport and leisure boats. Besides, the list of inland water ways open for foreign vessels is to be expanded with the sections interesting for tourists. The second reading of the bill on visa-free stay is scheduled for September 2014.

Moreover, the infrastructure of inland water ways is undergoing modernization and new routes are being developed. For example, there is a project on the development of water approaches to Sviyazhsk. Tourist routes along Amur are under joint development with China.

In general, potential of water tourism in Russia is huge. Integration of the efforts of both private investors and state structures is needed to used it.

Vitaly Chernov