A CHRISTCHURCH tourism boss has expressed disappointment at a proposal to cut the town’s information centre.

John Krajicek, chairman of Christchurch Tourist Asso-ciation, said while he was saddened to hear Christchurch council had proposed to reduce the information centre to a volunteer service, he was not surprised.

The council announced on Wednesday that tourism depart-ments at both Christchurch and East Dorset councils were under review along with 12 full and part-time jobs.

It wants to “integrate” the High Street information centre with the next-door Regent Centre.

Mr Krajicek said: “While the moving of the Regent Centre booking office into the tourist office may be of benefit to the Regent Centre allowing them to make internal changes to the Regent Centre, I see no benefit for the tourist industry by reducing the staff to these levels in an industry worth an estimated £80million in value to the local economy.

“We need to keep the foot on the accelerator not on the brake.

“The second round of council cutbacks was always going to be the hardest one to implement but you don’t achieve growth by slaying the golden goose that lays the golden egg and I hope this integration with East Dorset doesn’t reduce Christchurch tourism to a lower league.

“As chairman of the Christchurch Tourist Association I have met these hard working team members who over a number of years have helped to build and promote the tourist industry in Christchurch and would like to take this opportunity to thank them on behalf of the Tourist Association for their hard work.”

Matti Raudsepp, head of leisure and open spaces at the Christchurch and East Dorset Partnership, said: “This has not been an easy decision to make, but we are following the lead other councils from across the UK have taken to provide information for tourists in a different way.

“Most people now go online to find the information about an area when planning a visit and that has made the need for dedicated tourist information centres significantly less relevant than they once were.”

Final decisions concerning proposals for the Information Centres will go before councillors in September.