Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Tourist information centres face extinction

Manchester Visitor Information Centre is bucking the downward trend with an average of 1,000 people a day. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

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

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