Business travel fall "bottoming-out"
Eurostar today (October 15) reported a 6.8% rise in sales for the three months up to the end of September.
The cross channel high speed rail service said part of the rise, compared to the same period in 2008, was due to the impact of the fire which hit its services last autumn.
But it said there was also a growth in its leisure market and a bottoming-out of business class sales.
The train operator said total sales for the year up to the end of September were £504.9m, 0.9% down on the same period in 2008.
But the number of passengers travelling in July-September rose from 2.4m in 2008 to 2.6m this year.
This included an 11% increase in passengers travelling outbound from the UK and a 7% rise incoming travellers.
While no figures were released for the number of business class travellers for the three months periods, a Eurostar spokeswoman said it was "around 20%."
Richard Brown, Eurostar's ceo, said that while the market remained difficult, "there are signs that the worst might be over for the business market."
He added: "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."
www.eurostar.com