Dome visitor hopes dashed

The Dome needs 20,000 visitors a day to keep afloat

By the BBC's Susanna Reid

Hopes that the school holidays would boost the number of visitors to the Millennium Dome are expected to be dashed by figures out next week.

Visitor numbers for August may not be enough to ensure the Dome reaches its drastically reduced visitor target for the year.

The Dome has rivals not just in London, but around the country

Dr Patrick Greene

The Dome needed a huge boost in visitors over the summer holidays to meet its targets and this weekend should be one of the busiest of the year.

But there is stiff competition from other attractions and managers have had to cut the price of tickets to £10 over the bank holiday to draw in the crowds.

"The Dome has rivals not just in London, but around the country", said Dr Patrick Greene, President of the Museum Association.

"Cut price tickets show how tough the competition is."

Too few visitors

Last month 606,000 people visited the Dome - around 19,500 per day.

But an average of 21,000 people must visit the Dome every day until the end of the year if they are to reach their year's target of 7 million visitors.

Last month only 19,500 visited the Dome per day

And it now looks likely that the August visitor numbers will not be anywhere near that number.

Marketing Manager Sholto Douglas-Home admitted the heat is on.

"There's no doubt that when Autumn comes, we have challenging targets to meet, but we've got a lot of promotions and our forward sales are looking strong."

This weekend BBC Online launches a virtual reality tour of the Dome.

Virtual visitors can take the opportunity to make their own minds up about what has proved to be the most controversial public project in modern times.

An online survey will record likes and dislikes and a live web cast from the Dome on Wednesday will enable people to quiz the Dome Chief Executive, Pierre-Yves Gerbeau.