Estonia, Latvia, Port, Tourism, Transport

In May, the association of Saaremaa Island entrepreneurs and foundation SA Saaremaa Turism made a joint statement to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with a request to look for ways to relaunch the Montu-Ventspils ship route. By the request of the ministry SA Saaremaa Turism drew up a cost-benefit analysis.

"Like for the whole Estonia, for islands connections are almost the most important possibility to earn an income and develop the economy. We agreed with the island's entrepreneurs in the spring that entrepreneurs will make more precise calculations and then we'll see together. After calculations I can say that the idea has potential," Michal said on Wednesday.

According to the minister the next step is to see if the Latvian side has interest in relaunching the route and to discuss what the two countries and municipalities can do to make it happen. "The Ventspils-Montu route would definitely bring new guests here and profit for the island and the whole Estonian economy," Michal said.

According to a member of the board of SA Saaremaa Turism, Angela Nairis, if everything goes smoothly the first chance to relaunch the route would be May 2017.