The white knuckle rides of a theme park in Pembrokeshire have zoomed it into the top tourist spot in Wales.

Latest figures from the Welsh Assembly reveal Oakwood has moved above Pembrey Country Park as the main attraction for day-trippers.

It's good to see young attractions like Oakwood becoming a big success

Wales Tourist Board spokesma

More than 420,000 people visited the park near Narberth in 2000, the latest year for which figures are available from the Welsh Assembly.

The total was an increase of 14,000 on the previous year.

Despite its location in west Wales, Oakwood's owners have managed to diversify away from their farming roots and successfully promote the park in a highly competitive tourist market during the last few years.

It is already listed among the UK's top 10 theme parks and has received the accolade of a Royal visit.

At the start of this summer season management launched their latest white knuckle water ride - the �1.7m Hydro - to pull in new visitors.

Plans were revealed last month for an upmarket holiday village to be built near Oakwood bringing all-year-round tourism to Pembrokeshire.

Portmeirion is the top attraction in north Wales

Oakwood is already one of the county's largest employers and the ambitious holiday village being pioneered by one of the theme park's founders is promising 600 jobs.

A Wales Tourist Board spokesman praised Oakwood's success.

"It's good to see young attractions like Oakwood becoming a big success.

"It shows that people of all ages love the excitement and thrills of white knuckle rides," said a WTB spokesman.

The figures do not take account of the impact of last year's foot-and-mouth crisis which saw large swathes of the Welsh countryside off bounds to visitors.

However, Pembrokeshire's top attraction has forged ahead in the tourist stakes at the expense of one of its neighbours.

Pembrey Country Park in Carmarthenshire saw its visitor numbers fall by 34,000 to 404,000 in 2000.

Cult series

The Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans near Cardiff which saw its visitors increase by 13,000 in the year 2000 taking it to 337,000 for the year.

But there are signs that the futuristic cigar-shaped Visitor Centre in Cardiff Bay is beginning to lose its appeal.

There were almost 30,000 fewer visitors to 254,000 for the year and it slipped to fifth place in the all-Wales rankings.

Fourth place was taken by Cosmeston Lakes Country Park at Penarth which hit the 300,000 visitor mark - a 20,000 boost on 1999.

The Italianate village of Portmeirion, setting for TV's cult series "The Prisoner", continued to be north Wales' main tourist attraction.

Visitor numbers were down on the previous year, but the hillside village near Porthmadog, designed by William Clough Ellis, still managed to attract 214,000 visitors.