Eurostar Breaks

Posts Tagged ‘Channel Tunnel’

UK holidaymakers heading to the continent on cheap Eurostar breaks helped boost sales over the summer.

The Channel Tunnel high speed train company said that the £59 return offers triggered an 8% rise in passenger numbers. That’s despite a weak pound chipping the value off European breaks and short holidays for British travellers.

While Eurostar’s overall passenger volumes for the nine months of the year so far are 0.9% down at 6.9 million, the firm said that revenues were almost 7% ahead of the previous year in the third quarter.

Eurostar said the 11% growth in outbound passengers outstripped a 7% increase in travellers inbound from Europe, with 2.6 million travellers using the Eurostar service between July and September.

There were also signs of recovery in the business market with a slight rise in the number of travellers on business orientated Eurostar breaks.

Chief executive Richard Brown said:

In recent weeks a number of our major corporate clients have eased their business travel restrictions. Although it is early days, this may be a sign of an upturn.

Prices are likely to be keener for Eurostar breaks passengers next year with other companies able to to run similar high speed services through the Tunnel to destinations in Europe.

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Eurostar breaks close to passenger milestone

It has been revealed that we are now very close to a major passenger milestone, with the 100 millionth customer due to check in to travel just like all the others on Eurostar breaks on the morning of Friday 28th August 2009. The lucky 100 millionth nominal traveller should look forward to VIP treatment from the English and French crew. Eurostar, the high-speed train operator launched services on 14November 1994 and now offers direct links to Calais, Lille, Paris and Brussels, as well as connections within France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. On the travel routes to Paris and Brussels from London, Eurostar now claims a market share of 75% despite competition from airlines.Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said: ‘We are proud and delighted to be ready to carry our 100 millionth traveller nextFriday. We are preparing ourselves for our 15th anniversary on 14 November and look forward to welcoming the challenges with on-rail competition from next year. However, we are confident that our knowledge of operating across three countries and through the Channel Tunnel sets us in good stead for our next 100m Eurostar travellers.’

Eurostar’s high-speed rail network now connects more than 200 British towns and cities to the continent, making Eurostar breaks one of the easiest ways to get away abroad no matter where in the UK you startout from.

Technorati Tags: breaks, Brussels, Calais, Channel Tunnel, Eurostar, high-speed rail, Lille, milestone, Paris, passenger