Leisure travellers keep Eurostar sales on track

By PETER WOODMAN
Published on 13/07/2012 00:00

An INCREASE in leisure passengers on high-speed Eurostar trains helped make up for a dip in the business market in the first half of 2012, it was revealed yesterday.

The tourist traffic rise meant that the service carried 4.8 million passengers in the first six months of this year – up 2 per cent on the January-June 2011 total.

Sales revenue for the first half of 2012 rose 1 per cent to £425 million.

The number of passengers originating outside Europe grew 11 per cent in the period compared with last year. This was driven in part by a strong increase in the number of passengers originating from the US and Far East. Eurostar operates 186mph trains from London’s St Pancras station to Paris and 
Brussels via the Channel Tunnel.

The company’s chief executive, Nicolas Petrovic, said: “We have delivered a resilient performance in the first half of the year despite the difficult economic climate. Leisure bookings have continued to grow and we have seen good take-up for travel to London over the summer period.”

He added: “During the Queen’s Jubilee we had one of our busiest weekends on record and we are looking forward to welcoming visitors from across Europe to enjoy all the attractions that London has to offer for the Olympic Games.”