This year, nearly 60 000 visitors are expected to visit the Turku Archipelago trails.
The Archipelago Ring Road and the Little Ring Road, will open to the public on Friday 15 May. M/S Antonia will start operating between Inio and Houtskar on the Archipelago Ring Road and M/S Östern will start operating between Nauvoo, Seil and Rymättylä on the Little Ring Road.
– Much improved ferry capacity on the Saar Road between Pargas and Nauvoo will contribute to a smooth journey on tyres now that the environmentally friendly Elektra and Altera hybrid ferries are handling the traffic. In addition, capacity has also been increased on the Nauvo-Korppoo connection with the new L-317.
It is not possible for tour operators to take risks and as a result there are no foreign bus groups on the ring road.
– It is difficult to sell trips, especially to bus groups, unless there is already information two years in advance about how the ferries will run at each crossing point.
The total number of visitors to the tire roads in 2021 was 58,700, and a similar number is expected for 2023. The number of visitors has grown enormously in recent years, the only exception being 2022, when the corona situation turned for the better caused Finns to travel abroad a lot.
The number of cyclists on the small tire roads has almost tripled in four years, and the number of cyclists on the Saaristo tire roads has more than doubled.