Eurostar has reported continued strong passenger growth in the first half of 2011, with a bumper season now on the horizon.

Overall sales revenues increased by four per cent – up from £404 million to £421 million – while passenger numbers went up by three per cent from 4.6 million to 4.7 million.

This year-on-year growth is particularly strong given that in the first half of 2010 Eurostar benefited from increased sales revenues resulting from the ash cloud disruption, during which it ran 70 extra trains and carried 100,000 extra passengers.

Excluding the positive impact of the ash cloud disruption on the 2010 figures, underlying firs half 2011 sales revenues in fact grew by 12 per cent in comparison with the same period last year.

Nicolas Petrovic, chief executive of Eurostar, said: “Despite the pressures on household budgets, consumers are choosing to prioritise leisure travel over other discretionary purchases.

“In this difficult economic climate, we are finding that customers attach even greater value to their leisure time and are protecting short breaks and time away with family and friends.”

One Big Holiday

With holidays and short breaks increasingly a priority for consumers Eurostar is reporting a strong performance in leisure travel.

Over the first half leisure sales revenues grew by eight per cent and leisure passenger volumes were up four per cent.

Demand for bookings over the summer period is high and over 950,000 passengers are expected to travel on Eurostar in July alone making this a bumper summer for high speed rail travel.

As a result, over 20 extra services have been scheduled to run over the summer.

City.Mobi

Also in the UK today, City.Mobi is celebrating the success of its new guide to London.

City.Mobi offers the most comprehensive mobile travel guides available, with over 800 cities in 200 countries listed. Each is developed by the City.Mobi team to combine into a single global travel directory.

However, each city retains its own mobile identity via a dedicated domain. Already on offer are Brussels.Mobi, Paris.Mobi, Sanfrancisco.Mobi and Sydney.Mobi.

London.Mobi is the latest in this illustrious line up, offering click to call functionality – which means no scribbling down telephone numbers.

Most entries are also linked to websites where users can quickly access more detailed information if needed.

Other key features include information on accommodation, restaurants, attractions, entertainment, nightlife, shopping, and transport.

City.Mobi guides include user reviews and traveller utilities such as a translation guide, currency converter, news and local weather guide.