European Tour
Year 2015
European Tour: 14 cities, 5 countries
In the summer of 2015, Götheborg of Sweden headed out on a three-and-a-half-months long tour, European Tour 2015. The tour lasted from early June to late September and included the completely unique Vänern Tour 2015. The ship visited a total of fourteen cities in five countries and had over 200,000 visitors on board.
Highlights
On June 4, Götheborg of Sweden cast off from the homeport of Gothenburg and headed for the first stopover of European Tour 2015, the Swedish National Day celebrations in Oslo.
In August, the ship was the main attraction at the major maritime festivals SAIL Amsterdam and SAIL Bremerhaven. In Amsterdam, Götheborg of Sweden had the honour to inaugurate the whole event with a traditional salute. During the festival, the ship had over 7,000 visitors onboard per day, which broke the old visitors' record from China.
During the ships’ stay in Amsterdam the Dutch national TV channel NPO 1 carried out live broadcasts on board during the evenings.
In June 2015, Götheborg of Sweden participated in the Volvo Ocean Race event in Gothenburg. The ship took part in the opening ceremony; it was belayed in the event area during the whole week and was the starting ship with cannon salute for the In-Port Race, which was the final race of Volvo Ocean Race 2015.
Götheborg became the ambassador for the Non-Violence Project Foundation during the tour, an international organisation with the goal to inspire, motivate, and engage young people to understand how to resolve conflicts without violence. A ceremony was held in conjunction with the ship’s arrival to Varberg. There, the Non-Violence Sculpture of Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd was presented to the ship by his wife, Tonie Lewenhaupt.
Saturday, September 12, Götheborg of Sweden arrived at her homeport of Gothenburg after a very successful tour. The interest in the ship was huge at the ports she visited and over 200,000 people visited the ship during the tour.