Rail service hit by fall in business travel
A decline in business travellers has led Eurostar to report a drop in sales for the first six months of 2009.
The cross channel high speed rail service said sales had dropped by 7% from January to June to £342.2m.
Passenger numbers also fell by 6% from the 4.63m who travelled in the same six months in 2008.
The train company said this was still 11% up on figures for 2007.
Richard Brown, Eurostar's ceo, said he had expected to face a challenging year in 2008, like all transport companies.
"The fact is that some of our biggest business clients are from the financial and banking sectors, and it follows that as they tighten their travel budgets, we, like the airlines, feel the effects. We continue to seek ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency," he said.
Eurostar has also been hit by having to run a reduced service for the first seven weeks of the year after a fire in the Channel Tunnel in September 2008.
But the train company reported a rise in leisure travellers of 4% and record punctuality of 95.7% since the Tunnel fully re-opened.
Mr Brown added: "Despite market conditions, we still have good reason to be optimistic.
"We are benefiting from the strong Euro and seeing substantial increases in travellers from Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, which is also helping the UK economy.
"In addition, there is growing evidence of travellers switching from plane to high-speed train for longer, connecting journeys."
www.eurostar.com