Visitors made three-quarters of forward bookings on ‘lifeline’ ferry service this summer

Visitors outnumber islanders by three to one when it comes to summer bookings on the lifeline ferry service.

NorthLink Ferries managing director Stuart Garrett said islanders currently accounted for just a quarter of forward bookings made for crossings in June.

“That is a trend we tend to see through the majority of peak months,” he told Tuesday’s external transport forum.

“There’s no doubt our analysis of forward bookings suggests there are more visitors than islanders booking now.”

While cabins and car deck spaces are already nearing capacity on a number of occasions over the summer, Mr Garrett said there were still thousands of spaces available. 

Reinforcing his regular message to would-be travellers, Mr Garrett said that while there was availability now, his next presentation to the forum in May would show a very different picture with availability “much reduced”.