India has emerged as a top priority market for Eurail. The group has witnessed a 50 per cent growth from India market in 2015. With this development, India is now the sixth largest market for Eurail, globally and third largest market in Asia.
Speaking about the new developments, Yi Ding, Market Manager Asia, Eurail Group said, “India, since 2016, was prioritised as top six markets for Eurail. In 2015, we saw a 50 per cent growth from India which was the highest amongst all the top 10 markets. In Asia, India is the third biggest market and worldwide it is the sixth biggest. We are very confident in the growth of the India market. The European Union forecasts that after 2017, the number of travellers from India to Europe will grow with a pace of seven to nine per cent. So naturally it will grow for Eurail. If we do the right marketing and spread awareness in India market we can grow much faster. We see that Indian travellers are less affected by external factors.
Early this year, Eurail added Eurostar, the high-speed passenger rail service linking the UK with mainland Europe. Now, Eurail Global and applicable Select and One Country Pass holders are eligible for Eurostar Pass holder fares from US$32 one way in standard class or US$40 in standard premier with their Eurail Pass. Eurail Passes can be booked up to 11 months in advance and used to travel in up to 28 European countries.
Speaking about the new products Ding said, “We launched our new product the Eurostar, Italy-Switzerland pass in January. We want the agents here to know about these products. We have already taken a few steps for this market. We will soon have more joint campaigns to promote the products and spread awareness of Eurail in the India market. Eurostar pass is a flexible product; it allows the clients to book the pass, 11 months before. Also travellers can decide later where they want to go.”
Currently the most popular routes amongst the Indians are Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France. Ding said that Indians usually combine France, Switzerland and Italy, which is a very typical route for them. Now, with Eurostar coming in, London to Paris will be a popular for Indians.
Also recently, Eurail has raised the age limit for Youth Pass eligibility to under 28 from under 26. Travellers under 28 year of age on their first day of travel are now eligible for a Youth Pass, which offers up to 35 per cent off.
Ding said, “We noticed that the youth age in Europe is defined as under 28 years of age. In some European countries it is under 30. We wanted to standardise and align this to give more benefits to our customers. So now youths can enjoy 35 per cent more discounts while purchasing our pass. This new development will attract more young travellers for our products.”
Eurail majorly caters to the leisure travellers segment, business and MICE is still a developing segment. Ding said, “Currently business travellers are not yet strong as Eurail customers, the majority of our travellers are leisure travellers. Business travellers if they want to combine their work with personal trip they will likely take Euro pass. Majority of our clients are FITs and leisure travellers.”
