French Travel News-2010/2011 | Eurotunnel smashes records as British tourists flock to France

The Channel Tunnel enjoyed a 17 per cent increase in traffic this summer as record numbers of British tourists opted for self-drive French holidays.

Eurotunnel, which manages the undersea link between Great Britain and France, announced yesterday that it had seen a sharp increase in the number of vehicles using its passenger shuttle services.

According to RFI, Eurotunnel transported 533,238 cars, motorcycles and caravans between Folkestone and Calais in July and August, a figure that smashes previous records.

During that two-month period, Eurotunnel had its busiest day since the Channel Tunnel opened, transporting 14,825 cars and 150 coaches on 14 August.

Several other one-way records were broken earlier this summer. 9,382 vehicles travelled from Folkestone on 23 July as school holidays began, while a record figure of 8,869 vehicles came back to the UK on 29 August.

On July 23, Eurotunnel transported 9,382 vehicles in the space of 24 hours - a figure that eclipses the group's daily average of 2,626.

Another important milestone was reached on 21 July, when Eurotunnel checked-in its 250 millionth passenger since services through the tunnel began in 1994.

'The intense activity through the summer shows that 'Le Shuttle' is the perfect answer to our customers' expectations: it is value for money and respectful of the environment,' Eurotunnel's commercial director, Jo Willacy, said in a statement.

'Our whole commercial strategy aimed at increasing our traffic and our performance this summer is an incentive to continue in the same vein,' she added.

By Joseph Jeffries