A BUSY city centre tourist information centre is to open seven-days a week in time for the holiday period.

But hundreds of tourists and visitors to Durham City will remain frustrated at peak times over coming weekends when they find the office closed.

Staff shortages mean the Market Place information centre will continue to close at 1pm on Saturdays and all-day on Sundays.

Durham is packed with tourists and shoppers on weekends, and the city forum, a consortium of retailers and traders, recently launched Durham Summer Sundays, a drive to attract more visitors from the rest of the North-East on the Sabbath.

The centre, next to the town hall, is among the busiest in the North, with more than 250,000 visitors and 40,000 phone calls a year. But the city council conceded that it "struggles to cope with demand" and has had to close the office on weekend afternoons because of "resource contraints".

A city council spokeswoman said: "We are sorry about this, and know how much the service is valued."

There are plans to move the centre into a much larger building in the city's Millennium development when it opens next year.

In the meantime, three new members of staff will be taken on in the next few weeks to cope with the extra opening hours.

City council tourism officer Martin Boulton said: "We have remarkably dedicated staff at the tourist information centre, who carry out an excellent service."

Once the new staff are taken on the office will open daily all-year round for the first time.

But tour guide Dorothy Bowman, from Newton Aycliffe, believes the council has "dragged its feet" in taking on new staff.

"When I asked, I was told the two previous members of staff left in January, so its going to take more than six months to replace them."

Mrs Bowman, who runs North of England Tours, has leaflets placed in all tourist information offices.