Eurostar promotes France-Britain-Belgium train trips in China

CHINA - Eurostar is one of the major rail operators in Europe as well as the first high-speed railway operating company in Britain, which connects the capital cities of the UK, France and Belgium, taking an average of 1-2 hours departing from London. 

"People prefer to take trains when travelling among European cities if the journeys take less than 4 hours, and as for overseas tourists, it is the smartest way to visit capital cities in major European countries” said Darren Williams, Global Sales Director of Eurostar. According to Darren, train has already become the first choice of visitors travelling between Britain and France, although its overseas markets are still dominated by Europe and North America, its market increases rapidly among Asia countries in recent years such as China and India. Statistics shows that there are 6731 passengers travelling by Eurostar during the first quarter of this year, increasing 41 per cent year-by-year with a 40 per cent growth on profit.  

Meanwhile, he also admits that since Britain is not a Schengen county, Chinese tourists need to apply for two visas if they want to visit both Britain and France at the same time, which becomes the biggest challenge of Eurostar’s promoting in Chinese market. However, with the changing perception of tourists within this era i.e. the gaining popularity of independent travel, travellers’ willing of going around by train increases gradually in both China and other Asian countries.  

Darren then introduced that there are over 16 roundtrips between London and Paris every day which takes only 2 hours and 15 minutes; while over 9 roundtrips are running between London and Brussels that take about 2 hours. Besides, there are also 5 trains heading directly to Disney Park every week. Eurostar therefore becomes an economic and convenient transport for tourists travelling around Europe.

According to Tian Yu, Representative of the European railway companies in Greater China, customers are able to book Eurostar tickets directly through Rail Europe’s official website while there are also agents including wholesalers and travel agencies who run both online and off-line selling services. Different numbers of group tourists are able to enjoy various booking discounts. Compared to airline, trains own considerable price advantages and apart from that, passengers holding Eurostar tickets can also enjoy a buy one get one free benefit when visiting major museums and art museums in London and Paris.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews