4 March 2008 | The Balkans section of the Danube is getting a much-needed push, as the gradual economic recovery of the region’s countries along the river gets paired with the exceeding popularisation of cruise tourism observed in the past year.

The Danube Tourism Commission’s report from December 2007 noted that the Danube currently holds 30 per cent of the global river cruise market and highlighted positive developments in the Balkans.

As part of a wider trend of the popularisation of cruise tourism, which results in the continuous search for more ports of call, many Balkan cities are becoming popular stops along the Danube. While some are included in cruises lasting upward of a week, others are part of shorter routes limited to only one or two countries.

“On the Serbian Danube,” the report stated, “a number of attractive ports for cruise ships have opened over the past couple of years to complement Belgrade and Novi Sad.” It quoted growing figures as testimony: in 2007, 396 dockings (more than 50,000 passengers) were recorded in Belgrade, 224 at Novi Sad (22,000 passengers), 40 at Donji Milanovac and 80 in Viminacium.

Positive developments were observed in Romania as well: during 2007, the country’s ten Danube ports recorded 1,018 dockings (143,292 passengers) and 411 cruisers travelled to the river’s delta.

The Bulgarian part of the Danube seems to have more modest, but still encouraging, numbers: At the end of last year, the online news portal big.bg reported that 170 cruise ships and over 20,000 tourists were serviced by the Bulgarian ports during the 2007 season.

Experts noted that many of these ports are still underdeveloped compared to their Central and Western European counterparts, in terms of the condition of the actual ports and the infrastructure allowing access to nearby tourist sites, though things are looking up for the Balkan destinations along the Danube.

For an overview by BalkanTravellers.com of the development of the Danube cruise tourism in the Balkans and some of the most interesting ports in the region, see here.

Read more about Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria on BalkanTravellers.com