Hot summer helps boost Oswestry visitor figures
A tourist group says it is bucking the trend by keeping its visitor information centre in Oswestry open.
Oswestry Borderland Tourism says it is having a bumper year with good weather bringing more visitors to the town than ever and its 2018 is brochure flying off the shelves.
At a recent meeting of Oswestry Town Council some councillors were concerned that visitor numbers to the town's visitor and exhibition centre were down.
Mayor Councillor Sandy Best said it is not a tourism town.
But Lee Lucks, chairman of Oswestry Borderland Tourism, said the organisation was celebrating a bumper year.
"We have sent out 30,000 copies of our brochure – Oswestry, where Shropshire meets Wales - have been sent out throughout Britain and also been available to visitors arriving in town on coaches and places such as The British Ironwork Centre and Chirk Castle.
"The 2018 brochure has almost gone and although many organisations are not producing a paper brochure, at OBT, we have increased the number of our printed brochure every year for the last five years and are going to produce an extra 5000 copies for 2019.
"We are also lucky to still have a town visitor information centre.
"Many centres have closed and, although visitor numbers to the centre are down we believe there is still a role for them as ambassadors for the town and we are delighted that Oswestry is breaking the trend.
“With our web site and social media posts, Oswestry Borderland Tourism is now one of Shropshire’s most successful tourism organisations.
"The reason for that success is the partnership we have with our members and Oswestry Town Council," Mr Lucks said.
“Members support us with subscriptions and advertising and our partnership with Oswestry Town Council allows us to keep the town visitor information centre open.
"We hope that more businesses who want to encourage visitors will join us for 2019 and we are also looking forward to working with the new BID Group as they find ways of making Oswestry even more appealing to visitors”
Karen Pringle, tourism officer for the organisation and manager of the visitor centre in the grounds of St Oswald's Church, said her staff at the centre were ambassadors for Oswestry and the area.
"They know so much detail about the area that may not be on web sites and they love talking to visitors to help them enjoy every minute of their visit," she added.
“We are not just for visitors. If local people call in we encourage them to be a ‘local tourist’, they are often surprised at how much is in the area that they didn’t know about."
