HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL has announced a major shakeup of the way tourist information is provided to visitors, prompting fears among traders in Ross and elsewhere in the county that the changes will hit them in the wallet – simply because tourists won't know how to find them.

Despite an upbeat presentation of the scheme by council officials, which was passed at a cabinet meeting on Thursday September 16th, uncertainty surrounds its likely effects on the county's tourism industry, which is worth £411 million every year.

Prominent among the measures unveiled by the council is the decision to move the county's tourist information centres – which the council says cost nearly £220,000 a year but are used by only two per cent of tourists – from expensive leased premises to cheaper council premises.

In the case of Ross, this will mean that the Tourist Information Centre in Edde Cross Streeet will move into the Heritage Centre in January 2011.

For the full story, pick up a copy of the Ross Gazette.