site.btaCruise Ships along Danube River Increase Every Year

Cruise Ships along Danube River Increase Every Year

Rousse, on the Danube, June 28 (BTA) - Cruise ships travelling along the Danube River increase every year. There are 170 of them at present, compared with just about 100 in the year 2000, according to data of the Danube Commission. The figures were unveiled by Ivan Zhekov, head of the River Monitoring Directorate in Rousse, who was interviewed by BTA.

A total of 340 visits by cruise ships are expected at Rousse during the current Danube travel season which began in April and will continue until early November.

So far this year, the port has welcomed 111 such vessels carrying a total of 13,700 passengers. As usual, the largest number of tourists come from the United States (3,867) and Germany (3,734). Next on the list are travellers from Britain (1,100), France (920), Australia and Switzerland (760 each), and Canada (630).

Data of the last few years show that half of cruise ship passengers are over 65 years of age, and 80 per cent are over 50. Young people under 35 account for only 2 per cent of the total.

Zhekov said cruise ships on the Danube increase by between 5 and 10 units annually. There are about 15 cruise operators on the river. Most of them are new companies established after 2000, and only three were founded in the first quarter of the 20th century.

There are six Bulgarian-flagged cruise ships on the Danube. They are owned by Rousse-based Dunav Tours.

Zhekov went on to say that operators offer river cruises for all kinds of traveller budgets. Bulgarian passengers are few. They prefer short, one-week Danube journeys between Germany and Hungary, or trips along the rivers Rhine and Moselle.

Danube cruise travellers visit mainly the area between Germany and Hungary, usually preferring short trips of between five and seven days. A smaller portion of them choose 12 to 14 day cruises which take them to the river delta.

The industry is dependent on the water level in the Danube. Last year, only 280 out of a planned total of 400 cruise ship visits were actually made at Rousse. This was due to the low water level between July and September, which caused operators to cancel some journeys. "If it happens again this year, it will be pretty bad," Zhekov said. He noted that cruise ships can actually travel on relatively low water levels because their captains are skilled professionals.