Olympic tourists lift revenues at Channel Tunnel’s operator
A LARGE number of international Olympics spectators drove to London rather than take the train across the Channel, according to figures out yesterday from Eurotunnel.
Just a week after train operator Eurostar said it had seen no revenue boost from the Games, Eurotunnel yesterday cheered quarterly revenues of €275m (£223.8m), a 13 per cent rise on a year ago.
Car traffic rose 10 per cent on a year ago to 820,000, with a considerable lift during the Olympics, Eurotunnel said. Coach volumes, however, fell four per cent to 14,058.
Meanwhile, the number of passengers taking the Eurostar through the Chunnel fell one per cent to 2.6m.
Eurotunnel set a new traffic record on 11 August, when 15,152 cars made the journey between the UK and the Continent.
Freight train journeys in the three months to the end of September rose two per cent by number, but fell nine per cent by tonnage on a year ago. The firm said this was a good result “in a difficult and highly competitive economic context”.
“This summer, on the back of a dynamic first half year, Eurotunnel again set new traffic records,” said boss Jacques Gounon.
“We are confident in our activity levels for the end of the year, whilst always remaining vigilant due to the nature of the current economic environment”.