Urban transport in the service of maritime tourism in Gdynia

Maritime tourism is an important element of the economic development of coastal cities. It is therefore essential that a port city creates an area friendly to maritime tourism services, is open to the needs of passengers, and provides them with good transport and information services.Integrated with shipping, urban transport can provide significant support in handling tourist traffic, contributing to improving the attractiveness of shipping connections for passenger traffic, thereby also increasing the attractiveness of the city.
Gdynia is visited annually by about a million people using this form of tourism, which includes 3 basic areas: ferry shipping, cruise shipping, and the so-called “White Fleet”. Each of these areas is characterized by a different specificity of operation and demand for urban transport services (Table 1).
The “Ferry Terminal”, from which buses run towards the city center and a taxi rank is located.
The second ferry connection is offered by the carrier Finnlines on the Gdynia – Helsinki and Gdynia – Rostock routes.
Ferries of this operator dock in the Gdynia port at the ro-ro terminal. Due to the lack of possibility to handle passengers at the cargo terminal, the Clearance Office is located in the Marine Station building. After clearance, passengers traveling by their own car drive to the ro-ro terminal on their own, while non-motorized tourists are transported to the ship’s berth by the operator. 5 bus lines run to the Marine Station from the city center. However, foot passengers arriving in Gdynia, immediately after leaving the ferry at the ro-ro terminal, are forced to walk to the bus stops for about 1 km (…)

Urban transport in the service of maritime tourism in Gdynia – PDF file for download