28 May 2008
Eurostar.com becomes a one-stop-shop for travellers planning a trip to the UK
VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, and Eurostar, the high-speed rail service linking the UK and mainland Europe, have teamed up to enable Eurostar to start selling British tourism products on eurostar.com, including Transport for London’s Oyster cards – which make exploring London easy and hassle free.
VisitBritain has ‘white labelled’ its popular online shop with Eurostar branding so that visitors to eurostar.com can now browse and purchase over 150 different British tourism products; ranging from transport passes, tickets to attractions and events, to meals out, accommodation guides, touring passes, books and maps.
The ‘white label’ shop will help Britain’s tourism businesses reach a greater pool of customers and potential visitors.
Kenny Boyle, Director of Commercial and Marketing Services at VisitBritain, said: “With increasing competition from destinations around the world, Britain must take every opportunity to remain ahead of the crowd. Our ambition is to help all parts of the industry improve their profitability and widen awareness of all that can be enjoyed on a business or leisure trip here.”
Simon Montague, Director of Communications, Eurostar, said: “Eurostar.com is now a real one-stop shop for visitors planning a trip to the UK. Buying Oyster cards or museum tickets in advance can really help visitors make the most of their holiday and ensures they can start enjoying Britain as soon as they arrive.”
Giles Bailey, Transport for London's Head of Marketing Strategy and Integration, said: “This partnership with VisitBritain and Eurostar is another good example of our work with the travel trade to make it easier for visitors to London to get round the capital. “It enables us to reach more visitors to London from overseas; meaning that as soon as they get here they can also enjoy the benefits of convenient, simpler, and quicker journeys that come with using the Oyster card.”
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www.visitbritain.com/presscentre
Further VisitBritain information: Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager on 020 8563 3035 or 07951 996241
Further Eurostar information: + 44 (0)20 7843 5500 or press.office@eurostar.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About VisitBritain
· VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.
· In 2006, there were 32.7 million visits to Britain, 9% up on 2005. They spent over £16 billion in the UK: a 12% increase on 2005. Globally, the UK retains 6th place in visitor arrivals, slipping one place to 6th in spend.
· VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the fourth year in a row at the 2007 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com. VisitBritain plans to increase this to 25 million by 2009.
About Eurostar
· Eurostar is the high-speed passenger train service linking St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Avignon and the French Alps.
· Independent research has shown that a Eurostar journey between London and Paris/Brussels generates one-tenth of the carbon dioxide produced by an equivalent flight. Under its ‘Tread Lightly’ initiative, Eurostar has set a target of further reducing its CO2 emissions by 25% per traveller journey by 2012.
· Eurostar is the world’s first train operator to make all journeys carbon neutral, at no extra cost to travellers.
· Eurostar is a founder member of Railteam, a partnership between Europe’s leading high-speed train operators that is developing simpler ways to book and travel on the fast-expanding, European high-speed rail network.
· More than 17 million Oyster cards have now been issued and 38 million journeys a week are made each week using Oyster.
· Around 78% of all Tube and bus payments in London are now by Oyster card.
· In the five years since the introduction of Oyster card, the proportion of cash payments on the Tube and buses has fallen to just three per cent.
· As an example, with Oyster pay as you go you can load £10 onto your Oyster card and when you touch in and out at the yellow card readers on the Tube, Docklands Light Railway and London Overground or touch in on the bus or tram the reader automatically deducts the correct fare.
· Oyster is available to buy or be topped up at all 275 Tube stations and there are also more than 2,200 Oyster Ticket Stops across the capital. Eighty-five percent of all Londoners live within 400 metres of an Oyster Ticket Stop.
· When passengers use the Oyster card to touch in and out on the yellow card readers on the Tube, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and touch in on buses and trams the system automatically works out the right fare for the journey within in a fifth of a second from up to 1.83 million permutations.
· Almost three times as many passengers can pass through a Tube station entrance/exit gate using an Oyster card as can using printed tickets - 40 a minute compared to 15 a minute.
· More information on Oyster is available at: www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster