Whether during the day or at night, whether luxury or not: travelling by train is currently experiencing an upswing. More and more people are recognising the advantages of this form of travel for discovering foreign countries. How can travel agencies best sell the train? This was the topic of the Rail Travel Knowledge Day..Whether in Europe or on distant continents – the demand for rail travel is increasing. Tour operators and travel agencies are also noticing this. The question therefore arises: How can tour operators best meet this demand and what do travel agencies need to consider when selling rail travel?
This was the topic of the Rail Travel Knowledge Day. Guests at the talk with fvw|TravelTalk editor Oliver Graue were Björn Bender (head of the rail booking platform Rail Europe), Christian Buschhaus (head of travel agency sales at Lernidee Erlebnisreisen) and Kai Mattes (head of round trips and themed tours at Ameropa).
More and more rail journeys without borders
There are more and more cross-border rail connections, quite different from a few years ago, says Björn Bender. When he started in the rail travel business 20 years ago, „train travel was almost dead“. Now the Rail Europe booking platform is recording double-digit growth: „In 2023, we had 20% growth compared to 2022,“ says Bender.
And the half-year figures for 2024 are another 15% higher than the first half of 2023. The tour operators Lernidee Erlebnisreisen and Ameropa also confirm this and speak of „strong growth“.
This shows that Rail travel is in vogue and this is „significant for the entire travel industry“, says Bender. Almost everyone now knows that travelling by train is better for the environment than flying.
Nevertheless, sustainability is not the main reason for the increase in demand. „Sustainability is in fifth, sixth or seventh place. Safety, price and comfort are the top three reasons“ why customers book train journeys, says Bender. „There are now significantly more connections and very good prices,“ says Mattes.
Targeting cruise lovers
The target group is very different. „We have young guests, but also middle-aged or older guests. For the rail adventure holidays, however, it tends to be more experienced guests, where the average age is 50,“ says Mattes. Travel agencies could now offer rail holidays to customers who used to go on cruises in particular, as they might be interested.
After all, a train journey is nothing else than „a cruise on rails“ says Christian Buschhaus. Guests sleep on the train and travel to different cities during the day, and they can also marvel at the scenery from the train. „The process is exactly the same as a river cruise.“
According to the experts, cross-border connections are particularly popular. „The trend shows: People are willing to travel from Germany to London by train,“ says Bender. Other popular connections are Berlin–Paris and Munich–Amsterdam.
Mattes also speaks of a high demand for European city breaks at Ameropa, especially Paris and Vienna. „There is high demand for experience holidays in Switzerland, and in some cases we can’t even cater for all guests. We are therefore buying additional contingents to meet this demand.“ Scandinavia is currently experiencing the greatest growth.
Lernidee reports growth for Canada
At Lernidee Erlebnisreisen, Canada is a destination that is currently experiencing strong growth. „We actually come from the Trans-Siberian Railway. We can no longer offer this at the moment, so many guests are now booking Canada instead,“ says Buschhaus. Switzerland is also in high demand here. „We could take many more customers there if there was more capacity.“
In order to meet the overall increase in demand, the organisers are offering a number of new products. „Not much new rail network is being built,“ says Buschhaus. That’s why it’s not so easy to increase capacity.
But Lernidee has a novelty planned for 2026: A new special train is to follow in the footsteps of the Orient Express. Lernidee already offers this in the luxury segment, and the new train is now intended to supplement the range –apart from luxury journeys. Ameropa, on the other hand, is currently expanding in this area – with new luxury trains in Vietnam and Italy.
Quelle: FVW International
Reiserecht Prof. Dr. Führich 