Hopes that Tenbury tourism's on the increase for 2013 (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Hopes that Tenbury tourism's on the increase for 2013

8:00am Thursday 21st February 2013 in News By Adrian Kibbler

A PROMISING start to February for visitors has fuelled hopes that a decent summer for tourism could be on the way for 2013.

“We recently had 15 people in the Tourist Information Centre in the space of three hours and that was a Tuesday morning in February,” said Maggie Davies, chairman of the Tenbury Tourism Partnership.

She said that the early months of the year are the quietist but volunteers at the centre in Teme Street have seen a steady stream of visitors since reopening at the beginning of February.

“It is difficult to say when there will be a step up in the number of people visiting Tenbury because it is highly weather dependent,” added Maggie.

“Last year the number of people coming to the town was slightly down but I believe that this was largely to do with the awful weather especially in the summer.”

The weather is so important because many of the visitors come to enjoy the outdoor life.

“We get a lot of walkers who come to enjoy the town and the surrounding area,”

added Maggie.

“The Pump Rooms are an attraction and so is The Regal now that it has reopened. We get a good mix of people but the majority tend to be middle -aged.

“A lot of people come to the big set piece events that are part of the town’s calendar of events.”

The big attractions include the Teme Valley Food Festival in the spring, Tenbury Show in the autumn and the Apple Fest in October.

At the end of the year people come to Tenbury from all over the country for the annual Mistletoe Festival and sales at the end of November and in early December.

The centre, which is run by 20 volunteers, is staying where it is the time being, although the property is part of the auction yard site and so its long term future is unclear when work starts on the Tesco supermarket next year .

Plans to move back into the revamped Regal have been shelved.