AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.- The Auckland Museum has suffered a dramatic decline in visitors, which it blames partly on the September 11 terrorist attacks. However, rivals Te Papa and the Waikato Museum have survived the impact of international terrorism with no drop in patronage. During November the number of visitors to the Auckland Museum fell by 22 %, from 42,209 in November 2000 to 32,941. In December, numbers were down 9%. In January the decline was 12 % compared with January last year and 20 % lower than budgeted. Miss Carwardine, the director of the museum, said Japan and the United States were a big market for the museum. However, the number of Japanese tourists visiting New Zealand was down 50 %, and American visitors were down by 11 %.