Press Conference for 2018 Summer Cruise Season Opening
19 April 2018
Today, April 19, the Russian News Agency TASS hosted a press conference regarding the opening of the 2018 Summer Cruise Season Opening with the Passenger Port of Saint Petersburg.
The journalists' questions were answered by Vadim Kashirin, Director General of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg, and Alexey Panfilov, Commercial Director. At the press conference, the Port’s representatives spoke about repeating the results of 2017 and discussed the 2018 navigation plans and the unique cruise liners that would arrive to the Port in the upcoming season. Reference was also made to the program of the Cruise Europe conference that is to be held in St. Petersburg April 24-26, for the first time. This was a direct result of the joint work between the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg Committee for Tourism Development represented by the Convention and Visitors Bureau, St. Petersburg Government Public Agency. The Cruise Europe conference is one of the most important events for cruise industry players, which is a major international forum to discuss pertinent market issues.
In addition to the questions regarding the new projects run by the Passenger Port, including the Maritime Shipping Company that is to be created by the Port, and the reconstruction of the Russian national border crossing checkpoint on the Port territory, journalists asked about improvements to the Port territory and the adjacent undeveloped areas of Vasilevsky Island. Vadim Kashirin compared the Port to an oasis noting that just a few years ago the undeveloped area was empty for dozens of kilometers. Currently, those areas of the Vasilievsky Island are being actively developed and the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg is a stately face of the city greeting tourists who arrive to the Northern Capital of Russia onboard cruise ships.
The press conference video is available
here.
