THE number of people travelling by Eurostar rose in the third quarter of 2013. These three months are being seen as an important indicator because it is a year since the Olympics and Paralympics distorted travel patterns.
The international operator said sales revenues were up 10 per cent year-on-year to £207 million, while passenger numbers rose 5 per cent year-on-year to 2.7 million.
A spokesman commented that 'even when taking into account the reduction in passenger traffic to London around the time of the 2012 Olympic Games, this is a strong result'.
Eurostar, which has announced new services between London and Amsterdam from December 2016, also reported 'increasing signs that the economic recovery is beginning to take hold in the UK'.
The business travel market, which had been depressed by the financial crisis in 2008-09, is showing a 'gathering momentum' of recovery, it said, with business sales rising by 14 per cent year on year. Leisure travel rose by 9 per cent.
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 bell-wether 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.”
40 per cent of Eurostar is owned by the British Government. The French state railway SNCF has a 55 per cent share, while Belgian SNCB has the other 5 per cent.
Eurostar is bidding as a minority partner alongside the French company Keolis for the next Intercity East Coast franchise. If this joint bid succeeds, East Coast will then be run by a combination of companies which are mostly state-owned in France or Britain, because nationalised SNCF also owns more than 50 per cent of Keolis.