Calls to explore weekend opening of town’s Tourist Information Centre with events and footfall on the up

Calls have been made explore Saturday openings at Wrexham’s Tourist Information Centre to help cater to the growing number of events and footfall in the town centre over the weekend.

The request was made at the Town Centre Forum earlier this month, with Wrexham MP Ian Lucas pointing out the Tourist Information Centre was closed the day of the Singing Streets Festival.

Mr Lucas said: “The Tourist Information Centre is closed on Saturdays, which isn’t good if people come to town on the weekend and want to know what’s going on.”

It was noted that the decision to close the centre on Saturdays was made several years ago due to funding, however it was also acknowledged that events such as the monthly Street Festivals have resulted in a boost in the number of people visiting the town on the weekend.

One suggestion put forward was to operate the centre on Saturdays in conjunction with tourism and hospitality students as a work placement.

It was agreed that the opening days of the Tourist Information Centre would be looked at by members of the Steering Group at its next meeting.

Speaking to Wrexham.com after the meeting, Destination Manager at Wrexham Council, Joe Bickerton said: “A business decision was taken to reduce opening hours and staffing levels back in 2014 as part of a cost saving exercise.

“Saturday’s were the quietest day by far – but that was before the street festivals, tower climbs and coach visits started to take off. There’s fair arguments to re-open on Saturday’s – but of course this carries cost implications at a time when savings still need to be made.

“So at moment, we’re discussing with lead officers and members various business case options for responding to the visitor needs as town becomes more of a ‘tourism hub’ each year with an eye on 2018.”

Tourism in Wrexham has been on a steady increase in recent years, with figures released in August 2017 showing a 5% increase in visitor spend across the county borough over the past 12 months.

The latest data, which has been released by Global Tourism Solutions, shows that a total of £115.9 million was brought into the county borough by tourism in 2016. This is up from the £111.9 million recorded in the same period in 2015.

The figures themselves are based off data submitted by local tourism operators across the county borough.

More recently the town has seen an increase in footfall, with the week of Sunday August 13th and Saturday August 19th seeing 102,487 visits.

Data presented at the Town Centre Forum for the end of September also indicates that despite the new school term starting, footfall in the centre is averaging between 96,000-98,000 per week.

Pictured – The Tourist Information Centre’s map showing where in the world people who are visiting Wrexham are from!