Visitor increase 'good sign for Welsphool's future'

But the boost for Welshpool has come at the same time as the Mile End Tourist Information Centre at Oswestry looks likely to close.

Welshpool Town Council has released its figures for the first six months of the year, which runs from April.

In the six months to the end of September there had been 31,500 people through the door of its centre in Vicarage Gardens, with 34,200 visitors in the previous 12 months.

Councillor Graham Breeze said he hopes it is a good sign for the future.

He said: "The tourist information centre figures run until next April but it looks like 2015 has already been a bumper year for Welshpool. Footfall figures at the town's tourist information centre have gone through the roof.

"There is no doubt that this year's figures at the centre are skewed because of visitors to the National Eisteddfod at Meifod over the summer, but there are clear indications that things are on the up."

The figures showed the majority of visitors this year, 22,000, were from the UK, with 7,500 being from abroad and 1,800 being local people. And there have already been almost 10,000 more visitors to the centre this year than there were in the whole of 2013.

Councillor Breeze said: "The shops in the main street have mainly reported an increase in footfall and business, although some others, mainly in the side streets, are reporting a lower footfall.

"But even though the increase in tourist information centre visitors doesn't necessarily translate into business for the High Street, the town, from both the figures and the reports at the business forum, has faired better in the last 12 months."

The upturn in visitors is believed to be partly due to the improvement in the economy, partly due to the return of coaches to the town and partly due to the increase in people taking their holidays in the UK.

Many thousands of visitors also came to the area in the summer for the National Eisteddfod, which ran for a week.

Oswestry's Tourist Information Centre at Mile End roundabout, which is on the main route through to mid and north Wales, is currently under threat of closure or relocation into the town centre.

Shropshire Council is running a consultation to decide the centre's future on the back of falling visitor figures to the site.