Passengers flock back to Hurtigruta

Passenger traffic on one of Norway's most popular tourist attractions, the "Hurtigruta" Coastal Express liner service, is now back to what it was 20 years ago. The number of passengers last year totalled 409,600, up 40,500 or 11 per cent from 1996.

In 1977, Hurtigruta steamers carried 405,700 passengers, just 4,000 fewer than in 1997. Last year, 217,700 passengers travelled northwards, while 191,900 took the southbound route. The figures for 1996 were 191,900 and 177,300 passengers. This works out to an increase of respectively 13.5 and 8.2 per cent from 1996 to 1997.

Biggest increase in second half

A total of 227,000 passengers travelled with the Hurtigruta in the second half of 1997. This is 27,100 more passengers than in 1996. Consequently, the second half accounted for two-thirds of the increase in the number of passengers from 1996 to 1997.

New Statistics

Express Coastal Liner Bergen-Kirkenes, 4th quarter 1997:
Statistics are published every quarter in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and annually in the Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Shipping. For more information, contact: Liv Torunn Petersen, tel. +47 62 88 54 17, e-mail: ltp@ssb.no, or Terje Thorsen, tel. +47 62 88 55 37, e-mail: tte@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 8, 1998