People will soon be able to purchase sea travel tickets online, courtesy of the Iran Ports and Maritime Organization, travel news website donyayesafar.com reported. The move will improve service quality and allow potential passengers to purchase tickets from the convenience of their homes, according to Mohammad Rastad, maritime affairs deputy at the PMO. “By the yearend (March 19), an estimated 18 million passengers will have traveled by sea this year,” PMO chief Mohammad Saeednejad was quoted as saying. He added that once the tickets are made available online, more people will travel by sea. Travelers will be able to purchase tickets for ships operating in every port in Iran. The organization has also begun upgrading passenger terminals, repairing and renovating vessels and preparing rescue boats to ensure safety during the two-week Norouz holiday (March 20 – April 1). Hormozgan Province in the south is called by some “the capital of sea travel”, due to the large number of passengers that use the ports in the province to travel to any of the 14 islands in the Persian Gulf, including the tourist hotspots of Kish and Qeshm.
