Jadrolinija is expected to transport 12 million passengers by the end of the year.
The largest Croatian shipping company Jadrolinija has recorded a record turnover of 11.3 million passengers and 2.7 million vehicles in the first 10 months of this year, which is around a 7 percent increase than in the same period last year, reports Novi list on November 11, 2017.
If these trends continue, it is very likely that for the first time in the history of Jadrolinija more than 12 million passengers will be transported in a single calendar year, while the number of vehicles transported might be turn out to be somewhere around 3 million. All these numbers indicate what an exceptionally successful tourist season this has been, which was confirmed by David Spota, the President of the Management Board of Jadrolinija.
“Of course we are very pleased with such positive trend of traffic growth, as well as a very promising turnover of more than 12 million passengers by the end of the year, but even more important than these figures is perhaps the fact that the season has been done with high standards of sailing safety and no significant crowds or delays” says Sopta, also announcing new pilot projects and some novelties regarding the online ticketing system. Interestingly, the share of online ticket sales in the Jadrolinija system is gradually increasing, as well as the order of the countries from where the users bought their tickets. The UK is the first country according to the number of purchased tickets online, followed by Croatia, France, USA, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Sweden and Canada. There is an increasing interest in booking a seat/place on board, however, the problem is that the infrastructure in many ferry docks does not allow reservations. Namely, there should be an additional traffic lane in ferry ports for vehicles with passengers who have booked their trip online.
“This problem can be solved gradually and in cooperation with port management so that more ferry ports have the necessary infrastructure in order to meet the requirements for realization of online travel booking. Our idea, on which we will be focusing on, is to enable Islanders to buy tickets online and book trips on certain state lines, where the conditions and the infrastructure are satisfactory to provide such service. Our long-term goal is to make travel reservations in as many ports as possible, which will be of greatest interest to our customers abroad,” says Sopta.
Translated from Novi List
