Eurostar has reported strong forward bookings for the Euro 2016 tournament as football fever kicks in. 

With direct high-speed Eurostar services to the main host cities including Lille, Paris, Lyon and Marseille, nearly half a million passengers from across the UK are scheduled to travel during the tournament.

Over the last few weeks Eurostar has seen a surge in ticket sales, with June 10th proving to be the busiest day as the hosts open the tournament in the Stade de France in Paris.

With the successful introduction of Eurostar’s new fleet of e320 trains at the end of 2015, football fans can now connect to the free on-board Wi-Fi and entertainment system to follow their team whilst on the move.

Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “We have seen an unprecedented demand from football supporters keen to get the Euros by train.

“With our city-centre to city-centre services and a brand new state-of-the art fleet of trains, we are ideally placed to carry fans from the UK direct to the heart of the action in France.”

The strong bookings for Euro 2016 follow a challenging first quarter of the year.

Travellers remain cautious following the terrorist attacks in Brussels and demand is dampened.

The impact has been particularly evident in international markets with Eurostar reporting a slowdown in travellers from the US and Asia.

As a result, passenger numbers in the first three months of the year were 2.2 million, a three per cent reduction on the same period last year and sales revenues were six per cent lower year on year.