PHOTO: The Baltic Sea has inspired a whole culture that transcends boundaries in cities like Helsinki, above. (Courtesy of the Finnish Tourist Board)

Is the Hanseatic League getting back together? Certainly it must have been part of the inspiration behind the ONE Baltic Sea Region (ONE BSR) alliance of five cities promoting as one. The Hanseatic League was a medieval alliance of trading cities that was seminal in creating trade and social institutions all around the Baltic Sea. The ONE BSR cities (Hamburg, Helsinki, Riga, St. Petersburg and Warsaw) launched with a promotional tour in March that took them to Boston, Chicago and New York. The tour focused on travel professionals and the media.

“The Baltic Sea Region is becoming even more conscious of long-haul markets,” said Jan Rudomina, director of the Polish Tourist Organization. “The area’s well known for cruising, so this alliance adds another welcome voice to the marketing effort. These are also some great cities.”

The Baltic Sea functioned culturally, politically and economically, much as the Mediterranean did as a medium to cross pollinate. Though the cities share this heritage they each have well defined separate identities. The ONE BSR (ww.onebsr.eu) campaign will stress cultural diversity, architecture and design, local lifestyle and heritage, as well as special experiences and scenic attractions.

To stress each city’s individual identity, ONE BSR listed traits. Hamburg, for instance, was described as “modern and sophisticated;” Helsinki as a city “shaped equally by eastern and western influences;” St. Petersburg as the “former capital of Czarist Russia;” Riga as the “European Capital of Culture 2014;” and Warsaw as a “fast developing modern metropolis with a rich cultural heritage.”