Author: AIVP
Source: Baltic Ports Organization (BPO)
On sale date: Monday, 21 November 2005
Type of document: News
Topic: 2.06 - cruise activity, 3.02 - transport policy per country
Original language: English
Location: Europe : Denmark : Copenhaguen
Language: English, French, Spanish

The cruise port of Copenhagen Malmö was rewarded with two awards during the 2005 edition of the "World Travel Awards". This choice results from a vote of several thousand travel and cruise professionals. According to the port management, these awards are directly linked to the efficiency of the cooperation with the City of Copenhagen and local partners (13/11/2005).

The prizes are of great importance to Copenhagen because they give the city and the harbour the international travel industry's blue ribbon. It is because of the city's and the harbour's efficiency that they were awarded the two prizes: planning everything from arrival to departure in liaison with the shipping lines and agents.
Copenhagen has through the past five to ten years developed its cruise ship product, its infrastructure and has focused its international marketing campaigns on the city as a cruise ship destination. This has been achieved through close cooperation with Wonderful Copenhagen and the commercial companies in the Cruise Copenhagen Network who together have worked to develop the city as a cruise ship destination.
As Per Schmidt, General Manager of Copenhagen Malmö Port and chairman of Cruise Copenhagen Network says, "The cooperation we have in Cruise Copenhagen Network is the reason we are able to win prizes. It is the joint effort from the harbour, the airport, SAS, hotels, transport companies, incoming industry, retail businesses, attractions and the tourist organisations VisitDenmark and Wonderful Copenhagen which makes Copenhagen an attractive cruise ship destination.
On top of that the harbour has delivered a unique and efficient product. The prize as the world's leading cruise ship harbour gives us something to live up to and new thinking in capacity and facilities will be the next step in our planning."
The cruise ship industry belongs to the fastest growing aspect of the tourist industry. For the forth year running Copenhagen has beaten its own record with 282 cruise ships, in total 380,000 passengers, an increase of nearly 60,000 more than the previous year.
Regarding the prizes importance for Copenhagen, Ole Andersen, Sales and Marketing Director for Wonderful Copenhagen says,
"The prizes show that within the cruise ship sector we have the power to attract. The capital offers both the historical and the modern, which is often what the cruise ships guests desire. For us it is an important factor that the prizes are given by some of the toughest and most competent of critics, the tour operators and agencies from all over the world. It is they who sell Copenhagen to the tourists and so it is important that they are 100% behind the destination."
The cruise ship season typically runs from April to September and gives Copenhagen an additional turnover of approximately 700 million kroner. The season has this year been extended with ship number 282 arriving as the first Christmas cruise ship to Copenhagen on the 10-11th December. Everything points towards that 2006 will be another record-breaking year with more than 400,000 passengers.

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