Tallink Grupp launches its 2021 summer cruise sales
Tallink Grupp has launched its 2021 summer cruise sales in Finland and Sweden, offering customers quarantine-free sailings initially in June and July with cruises on domestic routes and with no disembarking in neighbouring countries.
The company will kick off the summer season on the Finnish market only for Finnish customers with Silja Serenade overnight cruises from Helsinki to Tallinn with no disembarking in Tallinn. The Silja Serenade cruises to Tallinn will be offered from 4 – 22 June 2021, after which the cruises will be operated by Silja Europa from 23 June onwards.
From 24 June Silja Serenade will start operating cruises from Helsinki via Tallinn to Mariehamn, Aland. Depending on the situation with travel restrictions between Estonia and Finland, the company will initially offer these cruises again on the Finnish market and to Finnish customers with no disembarking in Tallinn option. However, if travel restrictions between Estonia and Finland are lifted, the cruises on Silja Serenade to Aland will also be offered on the Estonian market and to Estonian customers.
Ticket sales for Silja Serenade cruises for June and July opened on 6 May.
As the pandemic situation and travel restrictions still limit travelling to Sweden from Estonia, Latvia and Finland, the company will offer domestic cruises for Swedish travellers with Silja Symphony, similarly to 2020. Earlier this week the company initially opened ticket sales for July cruises and this year the company will offer Swedish travellers an exciting new domestic destination – Ystad. Throughout July, the company will offer 13 cruises, including 11 cruises from Stockholm to Visby and 2 cruises on the route Stockholm-Ystad-Visby.
Ticket sales for Swedish domestic cruises on Silja Symphony opened on 4 May.
The company will monitor the developments of the national vaccination programmes, the overall pandemic situation in its home markets and national travel restrictions, and make decisions regarding additional routes, cruises and beyond July, within the next month. In addition to the new cruises announced for the summer, it is already possible to take a 5-hour cruise to nowhere between Tallinn and Helsinki on shuttle vessels Star and Megastar, and an archipelago cruise to nowhere between Turku and Stockholm on Baltic Princess.
Commenting on the launch of sales for the first summer cruises, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp said:
„Our recent survey among Finnish and Swedish customers clearly showed that people around the Baltic sea are looking for a get-away this summer, as they were last summer. However, when last year more than 10% intended to stay at home and not go anywhere during the summer, then this year, this number has dropped to 5%. After the year we have had, it is understandable that travelling, even if available only within our own domestic markets, is on the cards for most people.
„While the uncertainties regarding restrictions and the virus still remain in our region, all we can do right now is initially get creative with routes and trips within our markets and offer customers safe and quarantine travel options, which we are happy to offer in June and July to Finnish and Swedish customers on their favourite vessels at first and, hopefully, to our other markets’ customers soon as well.
„Our team is ready to launch more options to more markets as soon as restrictions are lifted and the situation allows, so keep an eye on our offers and we will share news on more trips as soon as decisions are made.“
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 15 vessels and operates a number of ferry routes on the Baltic Sea under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs around 4000 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. In 2020, the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Tallink Grupp provided services to 3.7 million travellers and transported nearly 360 000 units of cargo. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.
