NEARLY 30,000 people visited the new V&A Dundee in its first week.

Including the audience for the 3D festival, which signalled the opening of the museum, more than 50,000 people took part in the first week of the new £80m museum.

Around 6,000 people attended the opening weekend of the Kengo Kuma-designed design museum, and from last Saturday to Friday, 27,201 people visited in total.

On the eve of the museum’s official opening 10,000 people gathered to enjoy headliners Primal Scream and a special light and sound installation, and on Saturday 15 September, the 3D Festival continued and was attended by another 12,600 people.

The plan for the museum expects that 500,000 people will visit in the first year, a number which will reduce to around 300,000 in the following years: so those far the attendance figures have got off to a good start.

The latter total would put it on a par with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh or the People's Palace in Glasgow, according to figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

V&A Dundee, with an annual budget of £4.5m, will stage large scale exhibitions from the V&A in London as well as design museums from across the world.

It has a permanent and free Scottish Design Gallery, as well as a large exhibition space for paid-for shows, the first being Ocean Liners.

Philip Long, director of V&A Dundee, said: "V&A Dundee officially opened its doors last Saturday and since then more than 27,000 people have explored this wonderful building and its fantastic galleries.

"Kengo Kuma, the architect who designed V&A Dundee, wanted the museum to become a new living room for the city and it’s been a joy to watch people from Dundee and further afield make themselves at home.

"As well as museum visitors, we have also celebrated the opening of V&A Dundee with the 22,600 people who joined us for the 3D Festival."

He added: "It’s been a very busy week, and I’d like to thank everybody who has helped us celebrate this historic moment and all those who came to V&A Dundee during our opening week.

"We’re very much looking forward to welcoming even more visitors to the museum."

As well as the official visitors after its opening, last Friday, more than 2000 people had a "sneak peek" tour, including school children, teachers, those who had taken part in V&A Dundee pre-opening learning projects and members of local community groups.

The two press preview days held in the lead up to the museum opening were attended by around 300 journalists from across the world.

V&A Dundee is free to enter and is now open daily.

At the opening of the museum, Mr Long said that the expectations for visitors had been planned "prudently".

He added: "What is very clear to us, is that this is a project that needs to work locally, it needs to work nationally, and we want to bring an international audience.

"Within a 60 to 90 minute drive there are 750,000 people, and if you go beyond that, then it quickly goes over one million people.

"There is a particular asset that we have - our relationship with the V&A in Dundee.

"That means we can continue to bring great exhibitions. It is not a static visitor attraction, it is a place which has a live programme."