Business travellers help boost Eurostar numbers

Channel Tunnel high-speed train operator Eurostar has enjoyed a good summer, with revenues up and passenger numbers increasing.

Eurostar announced that it would be starting services to Amsterdam in December 2016. Picture: Getty

The company said that sales revenue for the period July-September 2013 had reached £207 million – a 10 per cent increase on the same period last year. Passenger numbers in summer 2013 rose 5 per cent to 2.7 million. Both leisure and business traveller revenues increased, with the opening of a link to Provence in southern France proving particularly popular.

This autumn, Eurostar announced that it would be starting services to Amsterdam in December 2016, with a journey time of around four hours.

Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “Business traveller volumes have been growing steadily for several months and this quarter’s performance continues that encouraging trend.

“As a bellwether for the health of the wider UK economy, the growing strength of the corporate travel market gives us confidence in the business outlook to the year-end.”