This despite various events such as acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and oil price raises, strong exchange rate fluctuations and economic and political uncertainties - that faced the international tourism industry in 2005.
EURAIL number of passengers beat expectations by growing to 374.000 passengers in 2005 (an increase of 24% compared to 2004) and achieving a 19.4% revenue increase to a total of 154 Million USD (a growth of 17% compared to 2004).
The increase of 24% in number of passengers represents a staggering 73.000 additional EURAIL travellers mainly from North America (57%) followed by Asia (27% and showing increases in most countries) and the Pacific (10% with strong growth in especially Australia).
In terms of Eurail Passes choices, the Eurail Select Pass, allowing unlimited rail travel in 3, 4 or 5 country combinations, was in 2005 again by far the most popular rail pass.
A month-by-month analysis shows that a significant percentage of the EURAIL travellers visited Europe in the months from May to July '05 thereby following a trend set in previous years. This analysis is viewable in chart format at www.prnewswire.co.uk or http://media.prnewswire.com
Market research, conducted by the EURAIL Group in the North American market, confirms a new trend whereby travellers instead of doing all their rail travel in one consecutive period over the European summer period, increasingly plan several trips throughout the year to one to two countries specifically over a shorter period of time. With the introduction of the new Eurail Regional and National Pass range the EURAIL GROUP aims to meet this changing trend and changes in customer demand.
In January 2006 EURAIL launched a new series of National Passes for 9 participating countries (Finland, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden). and is working on adding additional countries in 2006 and beyond. This with the aim to make rail travel more attractive and flexible for both tourists and business travellers.
As tourist arrivals for 2006 at European destinations are forecast to rise more than 3% over 2005, the EURAIL Group expects to see a significant growth in its rail pass sales surpassing 2005 results.
The EURAIL Group comprises 26 railways and shipping lines, as well as several bonus partners.
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