The number of cars taken on UK and Irish ferries rose by 4% in July compared with the same month last year, new figures show.
Industry body Discover Ferries said good weather and more holidaymakers choosing to "avoid the hassle of airports" contributed to the increase.
It released figures which showed 1.14 million cars were carried by ferry operators in the UK and Ireland last month, up from 1.10 million in July 2015.
READ MORE: Emirates boss says terror fears are driving demand for long-haul flights
Discover Ferries director Bill Gibbons said: "The signs are strong that 2016 will continue to see an increase in the number of people taking their car on holiday by sea as more people decide to avoid the hassle of airports and embrace the convenience and flexibility of taking their own road trip instead.
"We were very pleased to see such a strong performance in July.
"All the signs from our ferry operators are that the sunny weather is encouraging more holidaymakers to get out and about in their cars on holidays and day trips."
READ MORE: Emirates boss says terror fears are driving demand for long-haul flights
There was a 6.5% year-on-year rise last month in the number of people taking their cars on holiday to islands such as the Isle of Wight, Isle of Man and the western islands of Scotland.
Cars taken on ferry trips between the UK and mainland Europe rose by 2.9%, while ferry routes between the UK and Ireland saw a more modest 1.5% boost.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article