Visitor attendance at the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum is likely to reach a record 320,000 for the year, museum director Jennifer Evans predicts.
Visitor figures in a report tabled at yesterday's museum board meeting showed overall attendance for the first nine months of the financial year was running about 11,000 ahead of last year.
In a ''fantastic'' outcome, overall attendance was likely to reach about 320,000 when the financial year ended next month, Ms Evans added.
This was up about 10,000 on the previous annual record: 309,491 in 2016-17, she said.
The latest figures showed an upsurge of about 20,000 more visits between October and December last year had contributed strongly to the final outcome.
Ms Evans said a pop-up display of architectural models for a proposed long-term Otago Harbour development plan, and the annual Pixie Town display had contributed strongly to the museum's popularity in December.
That was the biggest visitation month in the financial year to date, attracting 39,750 visits- about 9000 more than any other month in that year, and nearly 6000 more than the previous December.
Ms Evans said the museum had maintained a lively activities programme throughout the year, and had also benefited from its focus on attracting repeat visits from the museum's ''core business'': local people wanting to learn more about Dunedin's social history.
The museum's highest attendance before it closed for its $37.5million redevelopment in 2010 had been 68,892 in 2006-07, museum officials said.
But when the museum reopened in December 2012 after the redevelopment, its initial 180,000 annual target was swiftly exceeded, 219,907 visits having been made by June 2013.
Attendance rose steadily, reaching the previous record, 308,553, in 2014-15, and 303,951 visits were made in 2015-16.
Figures from the nearby Dunedin Chinese Garden were also tabled at yesterday's meeting, showing that a total of 43,490 people had attended over the first 10 months of the financial year, and she said final attendance could be about 50,000.
The garden, also administered by the museum, attracted 51,164 visits in the previous financial year.
Attendance had been good throughout 2017-18, but numbers participating in the Chinese New Year celebrations in January were down somewhat, partly because there was no skyrocket display.
