P&O Ferries: Travellers choosing sea travel over flights

P&O Ferries has claimed that the ever-increasing stress and inconvenience of travelling through airports has led to a large proportion of British holidaymakers choosing the option of sea crossings.

Writing in his blog for the company, Peter Moore said that it should come as no surprise that ferry operators are seeing higher passenger numbers.

In late August, P&O Ferries experienced a surge in last-minute bookings, with some 140,000 people travelling on its ferries to Calais from Dover over the bank holiday weekend.

Mr Moore claimed that it is the "faintly idyllic" experience of sea travel compared to flying that has caused an increasing number of people to take ferries to France.

He commented: "Driving into the belly of the boat in your own car, watching the deck hands cast off from the quay, bobbing gently over to Calais with the white cliffs melting into the horizon behind you.

"It's a choice that many Britons have chosen over the past month, with people preferring the romance of the waves to the oppressive sterility of Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted."

P&O Ferries also provides a Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry route and serves the Irish travel market with its ferries to Dublin from Liverpool.

Written by Andrew Smith