Airport ‘misery’ boosting ferry travel
Travel by ferry is seeing a revival in the face of competition by airlines due to chaos at airports, new figures show.
Nearly 43 million passenger ferry journeys were taken between British ports and the continent, Ireland and British islands last year – a rise of 419,000 over 2006.
UK to Ireland routes performed strongly with numbers up from 5.3 million to 5.5 million – a 4.3% increase. Traffic to the continent increased by 1% from 20 million to nearly 20.2 million passenger ferry journeys. UK domestic figures were stable at 16.9 million.
Figures released by the Passenger Shipping Association’s www.sailanddrive.com campaign showed a 3.8% increase in the number of cars on passenger ferries.
Between 2006 and 2007 total journeys with cars increased by 3.8% from 9 to 9.3 million.
Journeys with cars between the UK and Ireland saw a 7.4% increase, up from 1.27 million to 1.36 million, while continental crossings with a car increased by 3.7% from 4.1 to 4.3 million.
Car journeys also increased by 2.7% for domestic crossings to destinations such as the Scottish Islands, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands. They grew from 3.6 million to 3.7 million crossings.
PSA director Bill Gibbons said: “I believe we’re seeing increasing numbers of people turning away from the misery of airports.
“The ongoing chaos at airports, continued strike threats, missing luggage and increasingly miserly charges made by airlines is just howlingly frustating.
“Travellers who vote with their feet and switch to ferry travel are finding a radically different experience. They can take their own car, as much luggage as they like, enjoy shorter check-in times and can stroll around ferry ships which have seen multi-million pound investments that are equal to modern cruise ships. This is a very exciting time for ferry travel, particularly in the year of the PSA’s 50th Anniversary.â€
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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