Tourists promised personal touch

Alexandra Wood

A PERSONAL face-to-face service will once again be offered to tourists visiting two East Coast towns this summer.

There was an outcry last year after the tourism information centres in Hornsea and Withernsea were closed down and touch screens were introduced in the towns’ leisure centres.

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Officials have taken the criticism on board and are putting on staff at Withernsea Lighthouse and Hornsea Museum during busy periods from Easter to September, reinstating the personal contact which locals and visitors said had been lost.

The changes were so unpopular in Hornsea that residents manned their own information stall, opposite the closed shop on the town’s main street.

The kiosks were criticised for being too slow and not containing enough information, missing out local attractions such as Hornsea Mere and bed and breakfast accommodation.

Former East Riding councillor Polly Worsdale, one of the volunteers on the stall, welcomed the latest proposals saying they seemed a “sensible conclusion”.

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Coun Barbara Jefferson added: “It’s a very good idea as the museum is well visited and as long as it is properly signposted as a tourism information centre, it’s a good thing.”

The boards of trustees at the lighthouse in Withernsea and museum in Hornsea have agreed the move and East Riding Council’s Cabinet is expected to give its backing to the proposal on Monday.

A report says half the people quizzed were not happy with the kiosks. It admits they need to work faster and contain more information “before they are perceived to be a credible alternative to the existing seasonal tourism information centre operations”.

Marketing officer Andy Gray said they were looking at improving the broadband connection to speed up the screens, but defended the lack of information about B&Bs, saying they could only promote guesthouses that were accredited.

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He added: “We’ve offered financial assistance for them to become accredited but they chose not to.”

The council is are looking to take on three new part-timers as well as an existing employee to man a desk with computer and information board. He said: “The stakeholders in Hornsea and Withernsea were concerned about the loss of face to face contact with customers.

“What we have done is listened to them and come up with a solution.”

Cabinet member Coun Jane Evison said: “This development is good news for tourism and will result in an improved service for visitors that will help to raise the profile of the resort. It is also excellent to be working with two very important visitor attractions in each town.”

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Withernsea Lighthouse manager Tony Simpson said the move should increase the number of visitors: “The lighthouse has recently been offered a grant to develop its retail and cafe facilities which means we can now plan ahead with the TIC in mind and produce a stand-alone attraction including the TIC retail facilities and cafe, along with the lighthouse gardens.”

Withernsea Lighthouse is one of the key attractions in the town, towering 127 ft above surrounding houses. One of only a handful of inland lighthouses in the country it houses RNLI and HM Coastguard exhibits, as well as a shrine to the 1950s film star Kay Kendall, who was born a stone’s throw away.

Hornsea Museum houses the famous Hornsea Pottery collection as well as displays reflecting the changing ways of life in north Holderness over the past centuries.