APPENDIX 49
Letter from Lord Falconer of Thoroton
to the Chairman of the Committee
When I gave my oral evidence to the Committee
on 12 July, I undertook to provide you with further details about
the popularity of the Dome (para 310 of the transcript).
I am afraid that I have been misinformed about
the Dome's position as 5th amongst world visitor attractions.
I had taken it from a draft of the Company's latest Annual Report
and Accounts. What I had seen would only have been true had the
Dome achieved the original forecast of 12 million visitors. I
will ensure that neither I nor NMEC repeat this misstatement.
Nevertheless on current estimates, even with
the downward revision in expected visitor numbers, the Dome could
still achieve a position within the top 10 worldwide. The Experience
is, of course, very popular, and perhaps I should have stuck to
the more modest, but still impressive, assertion that it is the
second most popular paying attraction in Europe (the most popular
being Euro-Disney). I certainly did not intend to mislead the
Committee, and I hope you will agree with me that, in the context
of a single year attraction, the Dome's visitor numbers are a
significant achievement.
You and Mr Faber also asked a number of questions
about the breakdown of Dome costs, contingencies, costs against
budget estimates and the date of the Richard Rogers contract (paras
415 to 427). I am copying this letter to NMEC Chairman, David
Quarmby, and to the Chief Executive, PY Gerbeau, so that they
can provide you with this material directly.
July 2000
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