P&O record a sharp seasonal increase in sales, reports Peter Moore

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With a trip on a British aeroplane increasingly resembling a stint in Bergen Belson Concentration Camp, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that more and more of us are opting to take to the seas instead.

P&O Ferries recorded a late surge in ferry passengers in the last part of August, as thousands of Britons decided to head to Calais to enjoy a late summer holiday in the north of Europe.

The sharp increase hit its peak over the bank holiday weekend. Speaking earlier in the month Simon Johnson, P&O’s sales and marketing director had predicted:

‘We’ll be a few percent up on the number of passengers, cars and coaches carried over the Bank Holiday. Our ferries to France, from Dover alone will carry close to 140,000 passengers over the weekend.’

Now one can only speculate, but it’s probably not just the delicate lure of French cheese, the historic Norman coastline, a weekend of glamour and romance in Paris or an expedition into deepest Belgium that has managed to attract us across the Channel.

No. It could be that we’re fed up with the Orwellian horrors of the typical British airport, where we are searched, poked, prodded and scrutinised before being lined up to board the plane as if we were about to complete a lap of the parade ground.

In comparison to this, a voyage on a P&O Ferry appears faintly idyllic. 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.

Mr Johnson said:

“As the peak season draws to a close we can be confident that we’ll finish this year slightly ahead. That’s a considerable achievement in the so-called year of the staycation. We’ve been highlighting the affordability of ferry fares for self-drive family holidays compared to the cost of flying and the message has clearly got through.”

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image credit: jorbasa

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