The Freeport of Riga Authority, together with the port companies, carries on its work on attracting cruise tourists and developing passenger infrastructure in the Port of Riga.

“As of now, 85 calls of cruise vessels operated by multiple European and US companies have been booked for 2025 in Riga, which is 28% more than last year, while 90 ship calls have already been booked for 2026,” said Edgars Sūna, Deputy CEO for Port Development at the Freeport of Riga.

Last week, the Freeport of Riga Authority together with Riga City Investment and Tourism Development Agency, SIA “Riga RoPax Terminal”, SIA “Rīgas pasažieru osta” and SIA “Riga Cruiseship Agency” represented the city of Riga at the world’s leading international cruise tourism conference and exhibition “Seatrade Cruise Global 2025”. The annual event unites around 600 exhibitors and 12,000 cruise industry professionals from more than 100 countries and is an important platform for the exchange of ideas, international marketing activities and networking across the cruise industry.

While meeting with cruise companies, plans for the current and next year’s cruise seasons and shore excursions’ offer to tourists were discussed, and planning for the 2028-2029 cruise seasons has already started. During the Forum, the Port of Riga’s new cruise and RoPax terminal project was presented to the cooperation partners, the preliminary works for which will kick off later this year.

As previously reported, a new passenger ship terminal is to be developed in Eksportosta district in cooperation with the private investor “Riga RoPax Terminal”. The project will not only increase the port’s overall capacity to handle passenger vessels but will also provide an opportunity to accommodate large vessels (up to 320m in length) in the vicinity of the historic city centre. The new infrastructure will significantly improve both the quality of passenger service and the overall product of cruise tourism in Riga. The new passenger ship terminal is to be completed by 2030.

“There is a strong interest in Riga from international cruise operators, also from a long-term perspective. This makes it possible to assume that the Port of Riga has returned to the pre-pandemic cruise ship turnover level,” concluded the Deputy CEO of the Freeport of Riga talking with representatives of cruise companies within the framework of the “Seatrade Cruise Global 2025”, pointing out that the share of large-tonnage vessels in the ship schedule is increasing, thus the number of passengers in Riga is also expected to increase, making a significant contribution to the entire tourism industry of Riga and Latvia.

In compliance with the “Seatrade Cruise Global 2025” forecasts, the cruise industry is demonstrating positive trends for the future on a global scale.

According to the leaders of the Big Four cruise operators (Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines Holding and MSC Cruises), which together operate around 87% of the global cruise fleet, in 2024, the number of cruise passengers worldwide reached 34.7 million passengers, which is 3 million passengers more than the year before Company leaders predict that by 2025, the total number of cruise passengers worldwide will reach 37 million. Cruising continues to dominate as the consumer’s preferred choice for vacations and, in the long term, the cruise market is expected to continue to grow positively on a global scale.

The first cruise ship of the season in Riga – “Ambience” of the UK cruise company Ambassador – was welcomed at the port in February, while the next – the French “Le Champlain” operated by Ponant – is scheduled to arrive this Saturday, 19 April.