Message from the CEO

Read CEO Marcus Risberg's latest post.

Visby 23 December 2022

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2022 has been a turbulent year. In February Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine began. Sudret is only just over 1,000 kilometres from Kyiv (as the crow flies) and I believe we have all felt shaken by how brutal and ruthless Russia has acted. How close it actually is. Almost eight million people have so far left the country, and 6.5 million people are displaced within Ukraine. My thoughts go out to all the families who have been affected and who have lost loved ones.

From that perspective our challenges have been small, yet still tangible for all of us. We are in an energy crisis where businesses and households in the southern part of Sweden risk being disconnected from the power grid, and where energy prices are skyrocketing. For us at Destination Gotland this has meant sharply increased costs, resulting in higher ticket prices. I understand that this affects many of you, not least everyone who lives on Gotland.

I truly hope that we can soon look back on this time as a parenthesis in our history, and that Europe, Sweden and the Gotland services can return more to a normal state. But as things look now, we will continue to have intense months ahead of us. Fuel prices are likely to remain volatile, and we are in a situation of high inflation and rising interest rates. Destination Gotland's accumulated operating result for the past three years (2019–2021) is negative.

Therefore we need to make changes that create economic stability in the business here and now. It is not possible to operate the services at a loss over time. When fuel prices stabilize at more of a "normal level" we will likewise be able to reflect that in pricing.

Another consequence of the fuel price is that we have chosen to pause the traffic with Hansa Destinations next year. We still strongly believe in the route and I hope that we will have the opportunity to resume the service again, under better conditions.

I am incredibly grateful for the trust of all employees, customers, partners and suppliers during the year. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with friends and family

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Marcus Risberg