Heavy snow has helped boost traffic through the port of Dover.

World-beating snowfalls in the Alps and Pyrenees as well as Bulgaria and Slovenia led to a massive rise in the number of tourist cars and passengers using the port during the school half-term holiday - spread over two weeks - to go skiing.

A comparison of the same two-week period last year and this year shows a 14 per cent increase in passenger numbers, hitting nearly 480,000, and a rise of 15 per cent in cars, nearly 74,000 in the fortnight.

Kate O’Hara, head of marketing at the port, said: "Winter holidaymakers who travel by car and ferry benefit from being able to book their tickets, put the skis in the roof-rack and just go.”

Brian Rees, spokesman at P&O Ferries, said there had been many more late bookings this year.

"The snow forecasts tempted many to abandon plans to stay at home," he said. "And for those who might normally take long-haul ski trips to the USA and Canada – with all the ‘excess baggage’ of airport travel – the prospect of the best skiing in the world on their European doorstep proved a huge draw.”

Traffic volumes were helped by the addition of LD Lines’ two new services from Dover to Boulogne and Dieppe which were introduced on February 12, and SeaFrance reported a 28 per cent increase in traffic during the main half-term week, February 14 to 21, compared with the same time last year.