TENBURY is an increasingly becoming an international attraction.

Maggie Davies, who chairs the Tenbury Tourist Information Centre, says that people are coming to the town from overseas and that they keep coming back.

An example of this was a couple from Germany who have been back to the town 40 years after coming to Tenbury on their honeymoon.

Staff at the Tourist Information Centre have been trying to help them to find ‘Frog Hall’ where they stayed as a young married couple all those years ago.

As the summer enters its final weeks the Tourist Information Centre says that the town continues to do well with visitors both from overseas and closer to home.

“We seem to attract a lot of people from Germany, Scandinavia, Canada and Australia,” said Ms Davies.

“People come to Tenbury for all kinds of reasons but walking and cycling seem to be a particular attraction and we sell a lot of maps in the shop.”

Visitors to the town not only give a boost to caravan parks, self-catering cottages, hotels and bed and breakfast establishments but also to the shops and other businesses in the town.

Maggie Davies said that although many people might imagine that Tenbury is just a day trip there are a lot of people that stay for a longer time.

“We tend to find that people come for a weekend break but in the case of the caravan parks and self-catering accommodation they will stay for a lot longer,” she added.

“There are three caravan parks in the area and they seem to do a lot of business.”

Visitors this year are also including a good age range with many older people and also a significant number of younger families.

It is difficult to know if the town has benefited from some of the economic problems that may cause people to holiday closer to home instead of travelling abroad.

Although the number of visitors on any particular day can be heavily dependent upon the weather, tourism in Tenbury and the Teme Valley is not very seasonal.

“The first three months of the year are always quiet but things pick up after Easter and I will expect the town to be busy until the end of the year,” added Ms Davies.

She said events like the summer music festival helped although it is not clear how many people who came for the music also came into the town.

The Tenbury Show is probably the biggest single event of the year but this is actually staged outside of the town centre.

It is expected that tourism numbers will be boosted by the programme of autumn events including the Apple Fest in October and then the Mistletoe Festival and sales in the run-up to Christmas.

Most people who come to Tenbury like to go away with some kind of gift or souvenir with which to remember their visit. A new stock of drinking mugs with an emblem of the town is selling well.