Major London tourist attraction The London Eye has won agaist the global economic crisis by reporting a profit of about £25 million.

The London Eye is 135 metres high and is London’s fourth biggest structure, managing to pull in 3.85 million tourists last year, the second highest performing year since it’s opening in 2000.

The financial situation has seen a surge in visitors from Europe given the collapse of the sterling in Autumn, and by a trend towards domestic vacations by Britons, called ‘staycationers’, who have shown a trend for spending more money at home by booking pods on the London Eye to celebrate such occasions Valentine’s day proposals.

Operating profits were up by 15 percent to £24.68 million, taking the landmark to being the most profitable tourist attraction in London, according to accounts released by Companies House this week.

The figures, which include the year to 27 December, also show total revenue increased by six percent at £52.04 million, and up by 8 percent per passenger.

Since the launch of the Millennium Wheel in March 2000, the tourist attraction has now carried over 35 million passengers, greater than the population of Canada, and ranks as one of the world’s top 50 tourist destinations in terms of visitors behind the Statue of Liberty and Rome’s Coliseum, but ahead of the Taj Mahal  and the Palace Of Versailles.  It is also Britain’s most visited paid-for attraction.

Tourism authorities for London have said that tourist numbers have performed remarkably well given the extent of the financial crisis, including the London Dungeon, Madam Tussauds and the Aquarium, all performing to budget.