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Eurostar feels impact of Brexit vote
Eurostar has reported a ‘challenging’ second quarter of 2016.
The rail operator said business demand softened in the run-up to the EU referendum while leisure traffic continued to be impacted by the Brussels terrorist attacks.
On the leisure side, it has seen a continued slowdown in traffic from international markets, particularly the US and Japan.
Passenger numbers in the second quarter of the year were down 3% to 2.7 million and sales revenues dropped 10% to £208 million.
In June, passenger numbers increased by 2% during Euro 2016.
The success of the Welsh team boosted travel in the final stages of the tournament, as thousands of Welsh fans chose to take the train to the game.
Chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: "In the run up to the EU referendum we experienced a slowdown in business travel and the uncertainty following the vote to leave, combined with the Brussels terrorist attack, has continued to dampen demand.
"At the same time, as a business trading on both sides of the Channel, a drop in the pound typically drives an increase in demand for leisure travel from the continent as customers take advantage of lower cost trips to London."
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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