However, it is the ongoing popularity with the wider public that keeps Portmeirion running, with about 250,000 people visiting the village in Gwynedd, north Wales, every year.
Portmeirion finance director Ian Roberts said: “We need to make sure we generate enough revenue for the upkeep of all these buildings, which is not cheap.”
The village employs about 200 staff, which can rise to more 270 in summer.
The 61 bedrooms of the Portmeirion Hotel and Castell Deudraeth Hotel, and 13 holiday lets, are crucial to the business.
They need constant investment.
“We need to maintain our standards, and improve the standards,” Roberts said.