The Eden Project has reported its worst-ever set of figures for the last financial year.
Eden Trust accounts for year ending March 2013 show a deficit of £6.3 million, compared to a surplus of £136k registered the previous year.
Its underlying trading loss was about £1.3 million, compared with a profit of £3.6 million.
The attraction blamed a number of factors for the decline, including interest in the 2012 Olympics, poor weather and the economic downturn, as visitor numbers dipped below the one million mark to 953,000.
In an effort to help balance the books, since March 2013 Eden has cut jobs and also sold surplus land.
In a statement, it said: “Eden has been reluctant to reduce its level of employment, but has concluded that this is essential to preserve and grow Eden for the longer term.
“Eden is ensuring that the business will remain profitable even if visitor numbers were to reduce further.
“With asset sales in the region of £2 million, Eden expects to pay off borrowings and other liabilities totalling £3.3 million during 2013-14.”
