Peak Season Record Numbers in Balaton Shipping

Balaton Shipping Co. (BAHART) closed this year's peak season with record numbers. The number of passengers traveling on ferries reached 1,220,000, while the number traveling on passenger boats on Lake Balaton approached 820,000, meaning that BAHART exceeded the two million passenger mark earlier this year than last year, on August 29, according to a statement released on Tuesday by BAHART, a subsidiary of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, to MTI.

Compared to last summer, almost 5 percent more passengers, a total of 1,630,000, used the shipping company's services between June and August this year. The outstanding result is due to a more frequent schedule, a more colorful program offering, and, last but not least, new family discounts, according to the announcement.

They detailed that ferry service traffic during the summer months increased by 34,000 to 904,000 passengers compared to last year, representing an increase of approximately 4% compared to the same period last year. BAHART passenger ships carried 726,000 passengers in June-August, 42,000 more than last year, representing a 6% increase.

August was the busiest month of the summer, with more than 708,000 passengers boarding a BAHART ship. Last year, this number was 665,000. Most passengers traveled with BAHART on August 9, the day of the Balaton swim, with 21,000 choosing the shipping company on that day. In addition, August 23 (the last day of the Beach Festival and the middle day of the Moto GP Hungarian Grand Prix) was the busiest, with nearly 18-18,000 passengers traveling on Lake Balaton on BAHART ferries or passenger ships.