Following the Latvian government’s decision to re-introduce travel restrictions and a 10-day quarantine requirement for all travellers arriving from Finland, Tallink Grupp announced that it will suspend the operation of the Helsinki-Riga route from 28 September 2020 until the end of October. The company will review operation of the route in November and December over the coming weeks. The Latvian government’s decision comes after the infection levels in Finland have increased over the last few weeks and Finland being listed as a „yellow“ country by the Latvian authorities, meaning travellers from Finland will now again be required to self-isolate after arriving in the country.
The popular Helsinki-Riga route has been operating since the end of June this year, initially daily with the company’s vessel Silja Serenade and since mid-September with two return trips per week with the company’s vessel Baltic Queen. At the height of the summer holiday season, the vessels carried between 1500-2000 passengers on every trip, but the passenger numbers started to drop from mid-August when the governments in the region issued new travel advice due to the coronavirus pandemic and advised people not to travel.
Commenting on the decision, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp, said: „The passenger numbers on the route have gradually declined since mid-August, but have been sufficient to maintain operations of the route without incurring losses with each departure. However, with the new restrictions announced today, it will be impossible to continue to operate the route as we know now from experience that passenger numbers will plummet immediately following the announcement of restrictions and therefore, to ensure we limit any losses for our business, we have no choice but to suspend this popular route until further notice.
„Of course, we understand the decisions and choices the Latvian authorities have to make in order t fight the spread of the virus, but considering the completely comatose state of the tourism sector and no lifelines in sight, we were hoping that exceptions would be made to tourists who arrive in the country in the morning for one day and leave the country in the evening of the same day, thus presenting a lower risk to the Latvian society than tourists staying in the country longer. A slightly more tailored approach with exceptions would have been a significant help for the region’s tourism industry and would have enabled us to keep the transport route between Latvia and Finland open.
„As ever, we are always ready to review and revise our decisions, should the virus and restrictions situations change and, circumstances allowing, we will be happy to re-open the route or operate special cruises on the route towards the end of the year so that Finnish travellers would have the opportunity to experience Riga in beautiful Christmas lights.“
All customers with bookings for Baltic Queen departures on the Helsinki-Riga route in October, will be contacted as soon as possible by Tallink customer services teams to discuss booking change and refund options.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 15 vessels and operates several ferry routes under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs around 6,000 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. In 2019, Tallink Grupp provided services to 9.8 million travellers and transported approximately 380,000 freight units of goods. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.