Fresh slide in Eurostar traffic

EUROSTAR passenger numbers have fallen by more than 10% this year. The number of people using the service between Waterloo and Paris and on the route to Lille and Brussels fell to 2.98m in the six months to the end of June from 3.36m in the same period last year.

The figures show the rate of decline at Eurostar accelerating - the fall in passengers carried in the first quarter of this year was 8%.

'It is a case of a fall in the total travel market,' said chief executive Richard Brown. 'We and the airlines have suffered from the decline in business travel. We have also been affected in the period by strikes in France and Belgium. It is early, but there are green shoots of recovery in the business travel market.'

The effect of the high-profile Summer of '59 marketing campaign offering cross-Channel tickets on Eurostar for £59 is unlikely to be felt until the current quarter's figures are released later this year.

Eurostar has signed code-share agreements with Virgin Atlantic, US Airways and Korean Air in an attempt to increase passenger usage. That means passengers flying to London from New York and Seoul can get Eurostar tickets as part of their package.