Nearly 1.8 million passengers travelled on Viking Line’s vessels during the period June–August 2024, according to the company's release. The greatest increase in demand was on the Tallinn route, which also had more departures than in previous summer seasons. This summer, passengers were drawn by the variety of attractions in Estonia and the other Baltic countries, to Åland as depicted in the historical film Stormskärs Maja, and by a refurbished Viking Cinderella.
Viking Line served nearly 1.8 million passengers during the June–August summer season just ended.
“Summer is the peak season for cruises, and we prepare meticulously for this. This summer, we further increased capacity on the Tallinn route. The offering on the Helsinki–Stockholm route was also bigger than last year, with Cinderella reassigned permanently to this route during the spring. There is demand for increased capacity, and despite fully booked vessels it is gratifying to know that we received very high marks for customer satisfaction this summer. All in all, the 2024 cruise summer was very successful for us,” says Viking Line’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Johanna Boijer-Svahnström.
The number of passengers increased most – more than 11 per cent – on the Tallinn route, which is served by Viking Cinderella and Gabriella alongside Viking XPRS. The route had a total of 732,000 passengers during the June–August period.
In July, it was 50 years since Viking Line launched passenger service between Helsinki and Stockholm. The route, which connects the two Nordic capitals, has always been important, and during this anniversary year a total of 274,000 passengers sailed with Gabriella and Viking Cinderella on the Helsinki–Stockholm route. Viking Line’s market share on the route climbed to 44 per cent.
Along with service to Stockholm and Tallinn, Viking Cinderella and Gabriella made a total of seven special cruises to Visby this summer. Gotland’s romantic county capital is very popular in Finland, and these special departures sold out during the spring. In October and November, Viking Line will arrange two more special cruises to Visby.
On the route between Turku, Mariehamn and Stockholm, the most climate-smart vessels on the Baltic Sea – Viking Glory and Viking Grace – served 747,000 passengers during the period June–August. Viking Line’s market share on the route is nearly 70 per cent.
The number of foreign tourists has increased steadily on Viking Line’s vessels since the COVID pandemic. In the past three summer months, the number of Chinese tourists was as much as three times higher than the figure last year. The number of German and Polish passengers also increased significantly, as did the number of South Koreans and Americans.
The season for international tourists coincides with Europeans’ summer holidays in August, when most Finns have already returned to their everyday lives. Schools this year started earlier than usual – in many places as early as August 8.