More than 6.8 million passengers boarded the line's cruise ferries to sail in the Nordic countries last year
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Viking Line hosted 6.8 million passengers onboard its cruise ferries in 2017 – a 6% rise from 2016 and a company record.
The greatest passenger increase – up 15.7% to 2.3 million people – was on the route between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. Growth was driven by the increased capacity between April and October, when Viking XPRS, Mariella, Gabriella and Viking FSTR collectively offered a total of 12 daily departures.
Mariella and Gabriella also carried just over one million passengers on route between Helsinki, Mariehamn in the Åland Islands, and Stockholm in Sweden – a 4.3% increase from 2016. Meanwhile, there was a 0.1% rise in the number of passengers (1.9 million) sailing on Viking Grace and Amorella on the route between Turku in Finland and the Åland Islands and Stockholm. On the short Mariehamn–Kapellskär route across the Sea of Åland, passenger volume on Rosella totalled 722,269, marking a 3% increase from the 700,227 in 2016.
“Passengers benefited from our expanded capacity during the year, while the tough price competition has been advantageous to our passengers,” said Jan Hanses, president and CEO of Viking Line.