Cruise Baltic, the alliance of cruise destinations in the destination, is to cut its members to concentrate on the largest ones and look to generate more revenue from visitors.
Bo Larsen, cruise Baltic director, said a new strategic direction for the alliance would probably see some of the smaller ports dropping out and number drop to around 23.
He said the region was continuing to grow as a cruise destination with an expected 40 more calls in 2010/11 that this year, which was flat on last year.
But he said the Baltic region was less interested in continually growing visitor numbers than maximising revenues from existing ones.
“We have not seen a huge increase in numbers this year, but next year will be an all time high,” Larsen said. “Of course it’s important to grow, and it’s extremely important from a port perspective because they get paid by the tonnage.
“But from the destination perspective we have a lot of passenger we could get more from if we did it in a smart way. I think we can get a lot more from our existing passengers.”
Key to this, Larsen said, was the kind of greeting passengers get when they disembark, and that often hinged on the facilities.
Cruise Baltic was honoured with the awarding of the Baltic Sea Award in May for its contribution to the region, including a focus on protecting the environment.
It has been working with lines, local authorities, campaign groups and the media to raise awareness of the green technology deployed on modern ships.
Larsen said one of challenges Cruise Baltic has had is to persuade ports of the value of the cruise industry versus the potential impact on the environment so they invest in better facilities.
Copenhagen and St Petersburg are both investing in new facilities that will open in 2013 and 2011 respectively.
“This is a great example of what we can do. We can use our organisation as platform for educational purposes and to bring people together to sit round a table and discuss the issues,” said Larsen.
One of the issues ports are facing is the increasing number of people who are doing their own thing when they arrive in port rather than taking organised tours.
Cruise Baltic was originally set up with European funding but has been self-funded since 2007.