Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the Waka Maori on the Auckland waterfront has been visited 170,000 times in the first four days it has been open to the public.
Dr Sharples says the counts so far of 21,700 visits on Friday rising to 76,000 the following Sunday are way beyond the highest projections.
He says the business case forecast a total of 100,000 visits over the final 10 days of the Rugby World Cup.
Dr Sharples notes that 60,000 people have visited the Giant Rugby Ball at Queens Wharf since it opened on 10 September.
The Waka features a programme of live music, kapa haka, a Maori Rugby exhibition, and a 3-D film of Maori creation.
The $2 million project is funded mostly by the Government, with a contribution from Ngati Whatua o Orakei, the hapu that will own the attraction after the Rugby World Cup.
