The sale of business tickets on Eurostar rose by 12% in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the same period in 2005, the high speed train service between London and Brussels and Paris said.
The increase helped the service to record revenues of £125m for the first three months, 7% up on the first quarter of 2005.
During the period, passengers totaled 1.7m.
Eurostar said its punctuality reached 92% in the first quarter compared to 83% for the same period in 2005.
Richard Brown, Eurostar's ceo, said: "We're continuing to win travellers from our competitor airlines, as strong punctuality and superior service make Eurostar the carrier of choice."
The UK high speed track is due to be completed next year along when the renovations at London St Pancras station is also due to be finished.
The new track will cut journey times from London to Paris to 2hrs 15mins, London to Brussels to 1hr 51mins and London to Lille to 1hr 20mins.
Hotel performance slumps in Barcelona
Despite a rise in visitors, the revenue per available room (revPAR) in Barcelona fell to its lowest level in five years, according to a HotelBenchmark Survey by Deloitte.
RevPAR in 2005 was 101 compared to 104 in 2004 and 112 in 2000.
The survey said that one of the main reasons for the drop was the "spate of new hotels openings in recent years."
A total of 68 new hotels has opened in the city between 2000 and 2004. In 2005, the new openings included a 433-room Hilton and a 147-room Grand Hotel Central.
A further 40 hotels are in the pipeline over the next three years, among them new properties for Marriott, Hesperia, Mandarin Oriental and Starwood.
Part of the increase in properties is due to Barcelona's promotion of itself as a conference destination which has attracted major shows like the EIBTM