NEARLY everyone has remarked on how successful Liverpool’s year as Capital of Culture has been. But it is good to see those comments backed up by hard evidence.

There could be no higher praise than that of Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, who said: "It’s turning out to be one of the most successful Capital of Culture programmes that we have ever had. We are now trying to create a network of European Capitals of Culture to build on Liverpool’s experience.’’

Three-quarters of the way through the event, there have been 10m cultural visits so far, with the Merseyside tourism economy preparing to smash through the £1bn mark.

Of the major success stories, Tate Liverpool has recorded a spectacular 200% visitor rise on 2007, from June to August, when it hosted the specially commissioned Gustav Klimt exhibition.

The Albert Dock venue is up 45% on the first nine months of last year, and in the next few weeks will break the 1m mark for the first time in its history.

The major visual art attractions in the city such as The Walker, the Bluecoat and FACT and new Victoria Museum and Gallery, have together attracted over 2.5m visitors so far.

National Museums Liverpool has also set new records, welcoming its two millionth visitor in September – surpassing the number attracted throughout the whole of 2007, which had been its busiest ever year on record.

This pattern is repeated all over the city’s attractions, whether it be the Mersey ferries, the two cathedrals, the Philharmonic Hall, The Cavern, the new Echo Arena, and Liverpool’s theatres.

And with major events still to come, such as the MTV Europe Music Awards, the BBC Sports Personality of The Year, and Pete Postlethwaite’s sell-out as King Lear, there is still lots to look forward to.