Eden Project losses nearly double despite visitors spike
A spike in visitor numbers failed to stop Cornwall tourist attraction Eden Project falling deeper into the red during its latest financial year.
The site welcomed more than 604,000 visitors in the year to 31 March, 2024, up from the over 551,000 who went there in the prior 12 months.
As a result, Eden Project’s turnover rose from £23.2m to £24.2m.
However, the higher visitor numbers failed to stop its pre-tax loss almost doubling from £868,000 to £1.5m, according to newly-filed accounts with Companies House.
The accounts come ahead of the new Eden Project site in Morecambe, Lancashire, being slated to open sometime between 2027 and 2028.
Lancashire City Council approved planning permission for the site at the end of January 2022.
The £125m project is expected to directly employe more than 400 people and support 1,500 jobs in the region.
The site had originally been expected to open in 2024 but has been delayed several times.
Eden Project North will be located on the former site of the Bubbles leisure complex near the Winter Gardens and Midland Hotel.
When permission was granted, it was said that the project would boost the local economy by £200m a year.
A statement signed off by the board said: “During this financial year, we emerged from the aftershocks of Russia invading Ukraine and the knock on effect on global energy prices, to a period of receding inflation and lowering interest rates.
“However, consumer confidence is still negative, but significantly improved over its all time low in October 2022.
“All of these factors impacted the trading results of Eden Project Limited during 2023/24.”
Eden Project added: “Given the challenging conditions from last year and ongoing macro-economic uncertainty, we will continue to diligently control our resources but invest back into our principal asset, the Eden Project site, where necessary.”