American travellers boost Eurostar sales

A surge of American travellers using the Eurostar has helped push the train operator’s revenues up by 12 per cent in the first half of this year.

The high-speed rail group made revenues of £421m and total passenger numbers up by 3 per cent to 4.7 million between January and June.

Last year’s ash cloud debacle which knocked out swaths of European flights for nearly a week – and saw Eurostar run an extra 70 trains, carrying some 100,000 passengers – may have helped boost numbers this year, as travellers forced onto the trains in 2010 then repeated the experience by choice.

Squeezed consumer spending is also proving a boon for Eurostar, as cash-strapped travellers turn to shorter, European breaks. Eurostar saw leisure sales grow by 8 per cent as holidaying passenger numbers rose by 4 per cent. And demand for the summer is also high, with more than 950,000 people expected to use the Eurostar this month. The company has scheduled an extra 20 services to cope with what it calls “bumper summer” demand.

“Despite the pressures on household budgets, consumers are choosing to prioritise leisure travel over other discretionary purchases,” Nicolas Petrovic, the chief executive of Eurostar, said. “In this difficult economic climate, we are finding that customers attach even greater value to their leisure time and are protecting short breaks and time away with family and friends.”

But the biggest boost has been in international travellers, as some 21 per cent more used the train service in January to June this year than last. US travellers are becoming an ever more important group as they “increasingly see a trip on the Eurostar as an integral part of a European tour”, the company said.

Eurostar sales grew 4 per cent from £404m to £421m in the first half. Excluding the positive impact of the ash cloud on last year’s financial results, sales rose by 12 per cent.