ESTONIA. Short-cruise and ferry company Tallink Grupp has unveiled the first retail spaces in the Baltic for prestige beauty brand Tom Ford with corners opening on the Silja Line ships Serenade and Symphony.
Both vessels ply routes that offer duty free savings between Sweden (Stockholm) and Finland (Helsinki or Turku); they have become increasingly popular with Asian travellers who are visiting the Nordic region in rising numbers.
In 2018, across European Union markets, Estonia was the second-fastest-growing destination for the Chinese at 35.8% while arrivals to Sweden grew by 7.2%, both above the EU average growth rate of 5.1%.
This has been helped by Finnair driving Chinese traffic in particular into Helsinki Airport. They either connect to other European destinations, or stay in the Nordics and can travel by boat to Sweden. From 1 June a new codeshare partnership between Finnair and China Southern pushed the Finnish carrier’s summer flights to Greater China to up to 42 a week.
Finnair has also tied up with Tallink to promote an exclusive cruise deal offering South Korean passengers ‘built-in’ trips to Tallinn, Estonia on either Megastar or Silja Europa. Finnair also promotes Tallink-operated seven-day Baltic-Scandinavian cruises.
The arrival of Tom Ford follows the recent installation of La Mer, both part of The Estée Lauder Companies brand portfolio. A Tallink spokesperson said: “The first month of La Mer sales is above expectations.” The brand owner is understood to have introduced these luxury names into the Baltic cruise-ferry market because of rising Asian traffic. Jo Malone is also expected to debut soon.
