HIGH-SPEED rail operator Eurostar claims it is hard to "sell" the county to overseas visitors, even though more passengers used Ashford last year.

Ashford International bucked an overall decline in passenger numbers with a two per cent rise to 350,000.

David Azema, chief executive, welcomed the increase but said more needed to be done to promote the county.

"Ashford is a difficult destination to sell to the French and Belgian market because Ashford is not known," he said. "The profile of Kent has not been raised enough.

"If I put Buckingham Palace on a poster, it will immediately speak to people. If I try to promote Leeds Castle, it's much more difficult."

Mr Azema said Ashford was a good location to promote to outbound passengers. It was convenient for people living south-east of London and had very good parking facilities.

"We need to find the right way to promote Ashford as a good alternative station. It's a very good facility and a very good station.

"Ashford will continue to be important to us but we need to innovate."

While Eurostar grabbed more business from the airlines on the London-Paris route it now has 64.6 per cent market share and the London-Brussels route (46.3 per cent), overall passenger numbers were down last year by three per cent to 7,469,000 (7,664,000 in 2000). Revenue fell by 0.7 per cent to £426.2million.

Mr Azema blamed September 11 and Foot and Mouth Disease but claimed the operator had coped well considering the "difficult context."

He revealed there had been a staggering 70 per cent drop in bookings in the week following the terrorist attacks on America.

Mr Azema said there were now signs that the business market was coming back but not to the "boom" levels of 2000.

Eurostar is launching a huge overseas advertising campaign this year and hopes the Queen's Golden Jubilee will encourage extra visitors.

Mr Azema said Eurostar would make a "big thing" out of the opening of the first section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in Autumn, 2003.

Refurbished trains would be introduced and he expected passenger numbers to rise by 10 per cent in the three years to 2006.