JORVIK Viking Centre bosses were making a little playful mischief with their invitation to Millennium Dome supremo Pierre Yves Gerbeau.

The Dome's original ambition, to attract 12 million visitors, now looks embarrassingly extravagant. Yet Jorvik is due to welcome its 12 millionth visitor any day now. Fancy seeing how it is done, monsieur?

Today the polite reply came back, merci, mais non merci. A spokesman points out that the Dome had 12 months to achieve what Jorvik has clocked up in 16 years.

But that is not the point. Jorvik's invitation is really a clever way to remind everyone that the Viking Centre is a phenomenal success story.

Moreover, if M Gerbeau really wanted to know how to keep people queuing around the block he should have taken up the offer.

He would have learned that Jorvik's achievement came without the £800 million of public money pumped into the Dome. It took just £2.6 million to open the Viking Centre in April 1984.

He would have discovered that it was conceived and executed not by a myriad of Whitehall committees but by a group of archaeologists.

He would have been told how its contents were not based on vague artistic concepts like Mind Zones, but on the real life of our ancestors discovered in the earth beneath his feet. This was presented via a 'time car' journey through the recreated Viking settlement, a truly original idea that brought Jorvik to worldwide prominence.

The former Disney executive might have been surprised to discover that all this was accomplished by a local charity, the York Archaeological Trust. And the success story continues. People are still travelling to see Jorvik, 200 miles north of the Dome, even as new northern attractions such as the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Sheffield's pop centre struggle. That is before Jorvik's £4.8 million revamp.

But if M Gerbeau believes the Dome has nothing to learn from this enduring tourism triumph, we must bow to his expertise.