A resilient business travel market helped Eurostar recover from a “challenging summer” when overseas tourists were put off from visiting London.
The Channel Tunnel passenger carrying train service reported passenger numbers up 4.3% in the first nine months of 2005, with revenues up 10% over the same period last year.
The London terrorist attacks in July “temporarily put off some travellers during the holiday period,” Eurostar said.
But this short-term slump was mitigated by a 15% rise in business travellers during the summer period.
Passengers using the high-speed train service reached 5.63 million in the period with sales to the end of September reaching £354 million against £323 million. The 10% rise was attributed to passengers paying more for greater ticket flexibility.
Eurostar claimed that its puntuclaity record of 87% in the nine months compared strongly with the average of around 70% for airlines operating its routes, encouraging travellers to switch to the train.
Communications director Paul Charles said: “Our market share has risen to record levels on the most competitive routes in Europe.
“Travellers are recognising the beauty of high-speed rail, which is environmentally superior to airlines, as well as being far more comfortable in terms of journey quality.”
Report by Phil Davies
