The Northern capital, the city of three revolutions, the cultural capital, the North Palmyra, the city on the Neva, Venice of the North, the city of white nights – these are all used to describe St. Petersburg today.
St. Petersburg is not like any of the Russian cities. It is unique in that it brings together the past, present and future. Palaces, sculptures, bridges and fountains, theatres and museums give an opportunity to explore its rich history and our times full of political, economic and cultural events. Meanwhile, new ambitious architecture projects show how the city will look in thirty years’ time. But no matter how St. Petersburg changes, it will always remain the cradle of history and one of the symbols of Russian statehood.
St. Petersburg is considered the pearl of the Baltic Sea today, and is a popular cruise destination. In fact, out of the seven million tourists visiting the city every year, half a million come by sea. The sea gateway to the city is the modern passenger port of St. Petersburg. The port complex includes four terminals which can receive seven cruise ships of up to 340 metres in length, 42 metres in width and draft of 8.8 metres. The marine terminals of the port can handle up to 18,000 passengers per day.
Every year the port receives more than 200 ship calls and welcomes about half a million cruise passengers. It is expected that the 2017 cruise season will be a record-breaking one, with 250 calls and more than 550,000 passengers visiting. This is expected to rise even further in 2018, with a 9% increase projected.
The activities of the port are primarily aimed at creating favourable conditions for the sustainable development of the St. Petersburg tourist market.
With the support of the city administration, the passenger port of St. Petersburg actively participates in the largest international events in the area, to promote sea tourism in the Baltic. This year the tourism potential of the city and infrastructure capacity of the port will be widely represented at ‘St. Petersburg City Day’, which will be held within the framework of Seatrade Europe 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. St. Petersburg City Administration and the port representatives will talk about the current policy of tourism development in the city and prospective port development projects.
St. Petersburg is highly regarded for the diversity of its tourist programmes and for its superior level of service, even during the low season. During autumn and spring, the city holds international events including the ‘Festival of Light’ and the ‘Festival of Ice Breakers’.
The winter romance of St. Petersburg is also popular. The fabulous snowy squares and promenades, Christmas markets, outdoor festivities and Shrovetide (pancake week) help to make the time of celebration and magic.
We also implement individual projects to promote cruise tourism in St. Petersburg. For instance, the ‘turnaround port’ project in St. Petersburg will allow tourists staying in Russia for a prolonged period to visit two capitals – Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as other famous cities in our large country.
One of the port’s most pressing tasks is a project to establish a regional shipping company. This will make it possible to go to any place in the Baltic Sea from the port without seasonal restrictions.
As a rule, only cruise ships are currently moored at the port. But following the State Border checkpoint reconstruction, which the port is currently conducting, the reception and servicing of cargo-passenger vessels will be possible. It is planned that a regular ferry service in the Baltic will begin in 2018. Upon completion of the project, the port will handle up to 500 calls and more than one million passengers per year in total.
In keeping with the world cruise market trends, the port started the construction of remote mooring dolphins, which will increase the berth length and therefore provide capacity for the simultaneous mooring of two vessels of 330 metres in length.
Through a united effort, St. Petersburg was chosen as the capital for the international profile conference Cruise Europe in 2018 by an overwhelming majority of Association members. Such rating events in St. Petersburg will contribute to the growth of Russian tourists’ interest in cruises and will increase the popularity of the city at a world level.
Annual growth of key indicators testifies to the successful results of the port and the city’s joint work. A strategy for the promotion of the current tourism potential in the city is being developed, which aims to establish a Center for International Cruise Tourism in Saint Petersburg. The ‘Marine Façade’ will be the backbone, around which well-coordinated and effective work on the cruise segment of the city’s tourism industry development will be ongoing.