Hedda Felin admits that cruise could be considered the “dinosaur” of the travel industry when it comes to new fuels and sustainability, and that is something she wants to change – not by talking about it but by doing.
Norwegian-born Felin is the CEO of Hurtigruten and chair of the board of Hurtigruten Svalbard, the group’s land-based operations in Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost settlement with a population of just over a thousand and the capital and the largest settled area of Svalbard.
Felin assumed the position of CEO of Hurtigruten Norway in March 2021 and has played a central role in leading the company through a period marked by the coronavirus pandemic, global changes, an increased focus on sustainability in the tourism industry and the split from expedition arm HX over a year ago.
New fuel challenges
With a background in the energy sector, working for the Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor (formerly Statoil), she understands the challenges of fuel supply and infrastructure better than most.
In her role today, she is steering Hurtigruten in the push for a more wholistic approach to sustainability, something of an evolution given Longyearbyen was established as a coal-mining town in 1906 but now has a focus on tourism and research.
At the moment, Felin has a focus on upgrades on Hurtigruten’s current fleet, pressing governments to create fuel infrastructure to assist in her bid to have better biofuel supplies in remote areas.
Fuel emissions of its own fleet of 10 small ships is also priority, she says, utilising technological advances in propellers and other propulsion systems, and making half the fleet hybrid using new battery technologies.
Biofuel saves 90 per cent of emissions she says, “but that is not the whole solution”.
While she looks to grow the brand – “and luckily we are starting the year with good numbers” – that also comes at a price to the planet, despite being an operator of smaller cruise ships, which is anything under 1000 passengers.
“We are less than half that number, and we have no desire to compete with the larger cruise lines,” she says. So fewer numbers at a higher price point is the go-to.
Upper premium and novel itineraries
“Our target market is those who are willing to pay for the experience, for the education,” she says. “We are not chasing the lower price point in any way.”
Aussies are among those numbers, she says, and not just because she is in the country on a whistlestop tour – and to see some tennis – but because of our enthusiasm for the product.
That has been helped by Hurtigruten APAC’s establishment of an agency-led Hurtigruten Nordic Alliance.
“Australians are our favourite guests because they want to be educated and you get the feeling they go back home and share that experience,” she says.
“They are a good target group too,” she says, “as they want to stay longer.”
“It’s such a long way to come,” she says with laugh, reflecting on her own experience, having arrived in the country for just a four-day visit.
“I came here from minus 9,” she adds. “I went to the (Australian Open) tennis and it was 48C!”
Felin says one of the biggest attractions for Australian is novel itineraries in places where there are more polar bears than people and small towns along the vast Norwegian coast where, among Hurtigruten’s fleet of 10 ships, seven operate the classic Coastal Express route between Bergen and Kirkenes.
“We are not interested in the mass tourism that takes place with too big cruise ships for local stops,” she says. “Our guests want to experience the real Norway and taste the specialties, meet the people, and be really immersed in the region.”
As opposed to the closer-to-home Antarctica, the Arctic offers people as well as places, she says.
“What’s special in Norway is that knowing there are people living everywhere we go, in these most remote places, these independent thinking people who are living happily in their remote communities.
“People want to learn more about them.”
An interest in year-round opportunities also means mean that winter is now equally as popular as summer for Hurtigruten. Felin was instrumental in the launch of the Hurtigruten’s signature voyages, including sailings from Oslo and Hamburg to the North Cape (the North Cape Line) with MS Trollfjord and MS Finnmarken, and summer sailings from Bergen to Svalbard (the Svalbard Line) with MS Trollfjord.
“Going to one place in just one season is not really sustainable,” she says.
While Norway itself is a safe haven, she admits global politics means Greenland is off the itinerary for the moment… “But I’m not too worried.”
A female approach
When it comes to being a female cruise leader in a male dominated industry – “I’m used to being the only female in the room” – she says she is pleased to see other women in the industry make their mark. Dondra Ritzenthaler at Azamara Cruises, Kirsten Karst at AmaWaterways, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo at Royal Caribbean Group, Christine Duffy Carnival Cruise Line, Natalya Leahy President of Seabourn, Catherine Powell are just a few.
She says that patience in leadership is a virtue, and while it exists in both men and women, “women like to see the long-term impact of what they do”.
“And we like to leave more values that we take,” she says.
While she has been on “every excursion and met every supplier” and “I know the product really. really well”, in her five years at Hurtigruten she admits she does not know it all, particularly when it comes to larger competitors.
“I haven’t seen all kinds of cruise experiences. Maybe I should go on a big ship?” she says unconvincingly.
While 2026 has started with good numbers, she says she will keep pushing and be inspired by what’s happening elsewhere in the cruise industry.
Her hitlist includes the next generation of cruise ships, creating better biofuel infrastructure and continuing growth meanwhile supporting the company in its mission to lower its impact on the planet.
