Eurostar lands major website award

Eurostar, the high-speed train service that carries passengers between the UK, France and Belgium, has been awarded a major online travel distribution award for its website Eurostar.com.

The Eurostar site won the Cruise / Ferry / Cross Channel Operator category as the best site for online travel sales to the trade and the public at the e-tid Online Travel Distribution Awards.

Eurostar was presented with the award in a ceremony on Monday evening (17 May 2004) at the EyeforTravel European Travel Distribution Summit in London.

Eurostar’s website beat off competition from Eurotunnel.com, POFerries.com, Celebrity.com and StenaLine.co.uk to secure the majority of votes from e-tid.com subscribers in its category.

The award comes in the same month that Eurostar opened its own one-stop travel shop on www.Eurostar.com. The expanded website enables travellers to package their own weekend breaks or holidays - combining Eurostar train tickets with hotel bookings, car hire and other holiday options for destinations in France and Belgium.

Paul Charles, Eurostar’s Director of Communications, said: “We’re delighted to receive another award, particularly one that recognises all of the work that has gone into redesigning www.eurostar.com The site is clearly proving popular with travellers - latest figures show that over 20% of UK sales now come through Eurostar.com.”

Editor’s Notes:

1. Eurostar is the fast train service linking London, Ashford, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Avignon, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris and the French Alps. Eurostar is Official UK Carrier for Lille 2004, European Capital of Culture.

2. Eurostar services are up to 40 minutes faster for return journeys, as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link enables trains to run at speeds of up to 186mph (300 kmh).

3. Eurostar was named “World’s Leading Rail Service” in the 2003 World Travel Awards; “Best Rail Network” at the Business Travel World Awards 2004 and “Best Rail Operator” at the Travel Weekly Globe Awards 2004.

4. Eurostar and Eurotunnel are two different companies with two different management teams. Eurostar is Eurotunnel’s largest customer.

5. More information about Eurostar can be found at www.eurostar.com