Lithuania's Klaipeda expects record number of cruise ships next year

  • 2019-07-22
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuania's port of Klaipeda says next year's cruise season should be the best on record, the port's authority says.

With registration still one, 68 ships already want to come next year, with the previous record of 65 registered in 2007.

"Next year's cruise season will be exceptional not only in terms of the number of ships and tourists but also in terms of duration as the first cruise ship is expected to arrive in very early spring, in March, and the last one will come in late October," Kristina Gontier, international relations and protocol manager at the port authority, said in a statement.

Al in all, 51 cruise ships are expected in Klaipeda this year, bringing in around 80,000 tourists. 30 ships have come to Klaipeda this year already, brining 41,700 tourists. Klaipeda managed to attract the record number of ships, 10, that visited Klaipeda for the first time.

Around 400 cruise ships are estimated to travel the world, and the number of their passengers is expected to reach around 30 million this year, including around 5 million in the Baltic sea region, or 16 percent of the global market.