Bumper year for stadium

The stadium has promoted itself as an all-purpose venue

New figures have revealed that the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has beaten its target of 2m visitors by almost a quarter.

The findings of the survey - released just hours after 70,000 football fans converged on the arena for the Liverpool v Manchester United Charity Shield clash - have shown that visitor numbers were exceeded by 300,000 in the past year.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales has done well

While negotiations over the future of the new Wembley Stadium continue, the Millennium Stadium is developing a reputation as one of the UK's premier sporting and concert venues.

It has already played host to the FA and Worthington Cups, as well as the key games in the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

Its retractable roof has made it the ideal all-weather stadium, pushing it way ahead of other venues of similar size.

And the accolades keep on coming. At Sunday's Charity Shield event, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson described the venue as an obvious blueprint for any national sporting arena.

The team behind the stadium have been keen to market it as an all-purpose building.

High expectations

Chart-topping acts like the Manic Street Preachers, Robbie Williams, Tina Turner, and Bon Jovi have helped put it firmly on the map as a concert venue.

Benefit gigs for foot-and-mouth and Aids - involving more top name bands - are scheduled for the autumn.

But the Millennium Stadium is not the only venue site in Wales to have outstripped expectations in terms of visitor numbers.

The National Botanic Gardens in Carmarthenshire and the Millennium Coastal Park in Llanelli have also beaten projected targets and continue to do well.