TICs closing across UK as council funds favour websites to attract visitors – but locals are not giving up without a fight
They were Britain's response to the package holiday; a network of Tourist Information Centres funded by the government to divert vacationers from the sunny lure of the Costas toward domestic destinations.
Forty years on they are battling to survive. Usurped by the internet, now the final death knell for many is being sounded by accountants from cash-strapped councils.
TICs are vanishing from high streets. The clear message is 'adapt or die'. But communities desperate to save this local asset are not giving up without a fight.
A raft of recent closure threats include centres in the Cornish tourist hot spots of Falmouth, Penzance and St Ives, while in Wiltshire five are under review, including Salisbury. In Gwynedd, the council has estimated losing three centres will save £76,000 per year, blaming the internet for a 48% drop in footfall. While on Anglesey three will be replaced with scaled down tourist information points, or TIPS.
'It is absolutely mad,' said Unison regional organiser Stuart Roden, of the Cornish threat. 'Cornwall relies on tourism; it's probably the largest industry in the county. Many local businesses could not survive without the help they receive from these centres. Many visitors arrive without having anywhere to stay and rely totally on the centres.'Once prominently placed near the town's iconic 17th century stilted Market Hall attracting 80,000 visitors a year, salami-slicing by the county council saw it moved to shared council offices in a car park, according to locals, where numbers dropped by three quarters.
Further cuts will see it reduced to a tourist information point, or TIP, within an office dealing with parking fines and other civic mundanities, said resident Ian Cook, whose petition to save it has attracted 2,000 signatures – one fifth of Ledbury's population.
As well as providing information on local services and attractions, it sells local wares and promotes the work of local artists, and its future has become an emotional issue.
Though originally funded by the government, there is no statutory requirement on local authorities, now facing difficult budget decisions, to pay for the running of the centres. 'Which is why, currently, there are many of them under review and why we are seeing some of these closures,' said Sarah Long, from Visit England.
Many have evolved over the years, being run in private-public partnerships, or through local business associations who value their contribution.
Now, those that remain reliant on council funds, are increasingly at risk despite locals believing them an asset.
It's a difficult argument. Gwynedd councillors have scrutinised the Snowdonia Mountains and Coast website, which has seen the average number of online visitors increase from up to 4,000 per month to up to 20,000 per month in three years, and see online information as the future.
In the north west many TICs have withered on the vine with the decision taken that scant resources must be channelled to key locations. One such honeypot location is Manchester, which rates as one of England's most sophisticated visitor centres.
'There's Liam Gallagher's clothing range, Manchester United and Manchester City merchandise,' said Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester.
The Manchester centre models itself along Apple-store lines. Using the latest Microsoft technology, it now attracts an average of 1,000 people a day.
Malcolm Bell, from Visit Cornwall, said: 'The number of people who use a TIC before coming to Cornwall is less than 1%. But for information while here, about 30% of visitors would look to a TIC. People still want to have the human side when they are in situ. It's getting the balance and making it commercially viable.'
Options might include looking at partnerships with other information bodies, such as libraries or museums.
David Weston, chief executive of the Bed and Breakfast Association, said members were concerned, "because B&Bs will lose what tends to be the last minute type of booking, the tourists that are in the town that day, and haven't booked anywhere, and may not find those B&Bs independently".
As part of Visit England's strategic framework for tourism it is now looking at the whole gamut of tourist information and role of TICs, in order to help local authorities find alternatives if they cannot afford to provide a dedicated TIC.
'The internet has had some impact,' said Jenny Mcgee, head of strategy amd engagement at Visit England. 'When you look at the fact you can sit at home, surf, and get the information you require in advance, why would you sit on a telephone waiting for someone to aswer between the hours of 9-5. Technology is changing, information sources are changing, so that service potentially in some areas needs to be redefined.
'But I absolutely agree, when I am on holiday the last thing I want to be doing is looking at my BlackBerry. You want local people, local advice, and you can't underestimate that personal touch. It's the ambassador for the area. So, it comes down to how much does the local community value that'.
'How to fund it, that's the bottom line. Or how to deliver the service in a different way.'
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