Register for Simon Calder’s complimentary travel newsletter for professional tips and cost-saving promotions.
Receive Simon Calder’s newsletter on Travel.
Last year, Eurostar reported a 20% increase in passenger numbers.
The railway company reported transporting 18.6 million individuals in the year 2023.
This marks a 22% increase from the previous 12 months and brings us back to levels last observed in 2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Eurostar offers both direct and indirect routes connecting the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Eurostar’s three primary routes from London St Pancras saw significant growth in the past year, with Amsterdam increasing by 38%, Brussels by 33%, and Paris by 25%.
Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said: “Eurostar is growing and in 2023 we welcomed many more customers on board across our five countries.
Our objective is to motivate a larger number of individuals to utilize the train, resulting in benefits for both customers and the environment.
Our goal is to have 30 million passengers by 2030, and our projected growth of 22% in 2023 compared to 2022 indicates that we are making great progress towards achieving this goal.
Between London and France, we transported nearly 8 million passengers, 1.1 million passengers traveled between the Netherlands and the UK, and 2.2 million passengers flew to Belgium.
The operator plans to transport approximately two million travelers to Paris for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games.
According to an insider in the railway industry, Eurostar’s decades-long monopoly on train transportation between London and Paris may be challenged by new competitors in the near future.
Mark Smith thinks that having a competitor will make everyone more competitive and may result in lower prices. He expressed to The Independent that while he remains skeptical, he acknowledges that it is a possibility this time around.
Founder of Seat61.com, Mr. Smith, was commenting on the recent announcement that a company called Evolyn will purchase twelve trains for travel between London and Paris starting in 2025.
Source: independent.co.uk
