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Three visitor attractions funded with lottery money from the Millennium Commission have taken top honours for ‘Best New Attraction for Group Visits’ at the Group Travel Organiser Awards 2002.
At a gala evening at the London Hilton in Park Lane last week, the Eden project in Cornwall was the overall winner in this category, with the National Space Centre in Leicester as runner-up. The Magna science adventure centre in Rotherham was also amongst the top five shortlisted entrants.
These awards are based on votes by actual visitors, not a judging panel, and therefore represent the true popularity of an attraction. Eden, the National Space Centre and Magna are amongst a number of projects funded by the Millennium Commission which have proved to be highly successful in their first year of operation. They have confounded those critics who predicted that their respective locations would fail to attract the crowds. Eden’s popularity is an international success story. It more than doubled its annual visitor target in the first year since opening in March 2001, achieving close on 2 million visitors. Since April this year, half a million people have already visited – an average of 7,000 visitors a day. It has also won numerous architectural and construction awards for architects Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners – designers of the National Space Centre as well. This recognition for the National Space Centre follows a number of achievements in its first year of opening. These include ‘National museum of the Year’ in the Good Britain Guide 2002, ‘Venue of the Year’ award from the Leicester Mercury, and it was highly commended in the ‘Best Visitor Experience’ category at this year’s Leicestershire Tourism awards. The Space Centre has also achieved its first-year target of 300,000 visitors within the first 11 months of opening. Magna achieved its annual visitor target within six months of opening and has just celebrated its first half-million visitors. The converted Templeborough Steel Mill also won the Stirling Prize last year for architects Wilkinson Eyre. Director of Projects at the Millennium Commission, Bill Alexander, is delighted at the achievement of these projects. “It’s wonderful to see how lottery funding is opening up to the public areas of interest as diverse as environmental sustainability, space research and science. No other country in the world has marked the new millennium with such an investment in the future. We salute the innovation, ingenuity and skills that have made visitor attractions such as these a reality, to enhance the education and enjoyment of people across the UK.” -ends- Notes to Editors Images of Eden, the National Space Centre and Magna available on request 1 The Millennium Commission is one of the ‘Good Causes’ which distributes funds from the National Lottery.
2 The Millennium Commission has also supported:
• Around 200 new buildings, environmental projects and visitor attractions on over 3000 sites across the UK.
• A UK-wide programme of community festivals which began on New Year’s Eve 1999 and culminated on New Year’s Eve 2000 with celebrations in 32 towns and cities across the UK.
• The Millennium Experience at Greenwich and the National Programme.
• The Millennium Award Scheme – the Millennium Commission works with over 100 Awards Partner organisations to distribute Millennium Awards to individuals for community based projects. Over 20,000 people have already received a Millennium Award and there are still thousands of Awards available. Further information is available on 0800 06801 2000. For further information contact the Millennium Commission Press Office on
020 7880 2007, out of hours 07775 812 820.
www.millennium.gov.uk and www.starpeople.org.uk
Millennium Commission 17th-June-2002
Categories: News Archive
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