Baltic, Tourism, Transport

Last week entrepreneurs of tourism companies from Saaremaa Island addressed the council of Saare County with a request to find funding to support the Mõntu-Ventspils ferry line, which is planned to be closed due to losses.

County Mayor Andrus Lulla revealed that the entrepreneurs have not specified in their plea, how much funding is needed to maintain the ferry line. "We need to know the numbers – funding needed for maintaining ferry traffic and the volume of losses at the moment. Before demanding support funding, we have to know the numbers," Lulla said, adding that after receiving the necessary calculations, the county administration will start looking for options how to support the ferry line, which is crucial for Saaremaa tourism industry.

In the past four years, Mõntu-Ventspils ferry line, which operates during summer months, has served 60,000 passengers. However, due to bad weather conditions, this summer it carried only 12,000 passengers, which is several thousand less then previously expected. Saaremaa Tourism Fund, which unites the local tourism entrepreneurs, has confirmed that also this number of tourists is focal for the trade sector and economy of the island.