Eurostar sees ‘bottoming out’ of business travel slump
Wednesday, 15 Oct, 2009
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Eurostar has reported a marginal sales recovery during the third quarter of the year.
The high-speed Channel Tunnel passenger rail service said overall sales revenue was up 6.8% on the same period last year.
But sales and revenues for the year to date are down slightly and the business travel environment “remains challenging”.
The third quarter improvement was put down to the impact of the fire on a shuttle in the Channel Tunnel in September last year which depressed the Q3 2008 results, helped by growth in the leisure market and a “bottoming-out” in the decline of business sales.
Chief executive Richard Brown said that whilst the economic climate remains difficult there are signs that the worst might be over for the business market.
“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.”
Overall ticket sales between January and September 2009 totalled £504.9 million. Since the beginning of the year Eurostar has carried 6.9 million travellers – down 0.9% on 2008.
However, the volume of passengers travelling in the third quarter went up to 2.6 million from 2.4 million 2008.
There was an 11% increase in passengers travelling outbound from the UK and a 7% increase of passengers travelling inbound from the Continent year on year.
The increase reflects the impact of a ‘Little Break, Big Difference’ advertising campaign which encouraged UK travellers to take £59 return fares – Eurostar’s lead in rate which has stayed the same for the last six years.
Brown said: “Today’s figures show that despite tough times, people are increasingly realising the great benefit of travelling with Eurostar.
“These individuals are part of what we call the ‘Eurostar Generation’; travellers who over the past decade and a half have experienced significant changes to the way they live, work and play as the network of high-speed rail services steadily grows.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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