Theme parks operator Tussaud's drew 15 million visitors last year during a roller-coaster period for tourism.

Turnover rose 12 per cent to £137 million, with underlying earnings up 43 per cent at £43.8 million.

Europe's biggest visitor attraction group runs Alton Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Thorpe Park and Madame Tussaud's in five cities.

With staff of 5,000, it is a one-third shareholder of the British Airways London Eye and has Warwick Castle in its portfolio.

Tussaud's is breaking with recent trend by publishing its results but does not provide a breakdown of visitor numbers at individual attractions.

It said it had achieved an improvement in the number of visitors and earnings despite the blows to tourism from foot-and-mouth and September 11.

World-famous London attraction Madame Tussaud's bore the brunt of the slowdown but the company said investment in attractions such as Thorpe Park had proved popular with visitors unable to visit the countryside.

Madame Tussaud's in London still improved earnings by five per cent as the business introduced more attractions to appeal to the British market.

They included David Beckham's interactive goal experience and a new Kylie Minogue exhibit, both of which generated substantial media coverage.

Commercial director Bruce McKendrick said Madame Tussaud's had a 20 per cent improvement in domestic visitor numbers in the first six months of the year.

The company's priority was not to raise visitor numbers but to improve the overall experience and cut back queuing times.

The group's theme parks generated an eight per cent improvement in revenues and 31 per cent rise in earnings.

The introduction of peak and off-peak pricing at Alton Towers increased average admissions spend by 13 per cent and reduced queuing times, while customer numbers at Thorpe Park grew 40 per cent after £7 million investment.