Tourist centre to close

The committee that runs Beamish Museum, near Stanley, County Durham, is to shut the centre's TIC and replace it with an unmanned, electronic information booth. The move will not mean any redundancies.

It follows a highly critical report by officers from Durham County Council, which bankrolled the centre.

The report states: "The current TIC operation is ineffective and does not deliver good value for money.

"This is mainly due to the fact that, although Beamish still attracts significant numbers of tourists, the TIC is not located on the main visitor route."

The TIC, set up in July 1991, aimed to capitalise on the 325,000 visitors from outside the region that Beamish attracts each year, in order to boost tourism receipts elsewhere in the county.

The centre was always meant to be self-sufficient, by generating enough tourist bookings to other attractions and accommodation. But its location off the beaten track at the open air museum meant it never took off.

Durham County Council has covered the shortfall in operating costs, but this has risen from £8,107 in 2000 to more than £10,500 last year.

Since the turn of the century, the centre has also seen a decline in the number of bookings made through it, while operating costs have risen. In 2000, staff dealt with 5,402 enquiries and made 199 bookings, generating £1,835 in income.

By last year, enquiries had dropped to 3,878, only 167 bookings were made through the centre and it only pulled in £931 in business.

Miriam Harte, museum director, said: "The main issue is location. The centre is not on the main user route - it is physically in the wrong place.

"The museum already works closely with local accommodation providers and nobody locally is going to lose out.

"We are not closing the door. If we can find a way of putting the TIC in the right location, with the right impact, then we will discuss with Durham County Council how to do so."