Heritage centre reduces opening hours due to lack of visitors
Twm Owen, local democracy reporter
Low visitor numbers rather than budget pressures have been blamed for the closure of a visitor centre in an internationally recognised destination on Mondays.
The Blaenavon Heritage Centre, which is a visitor centre for those visiting the Blaenavon World Heritage Site, a designation granted by United Nations cultural body UNESCO in recognition of the area’s central role in the industrial revolution, is closed on Monday.
It would open on Bank Holiday Mondays but Janet Jones, an independent borough councillor who represents the town, told Torfaen council’s July meeting “even this has changed over the past months”.
Budget cuts
She asked if budget cuts have forced the Monday closures and said: “As we are trying to encourage more tourists to visit Torfaen’s iconic landscapes why does this facility which is an information centre remain closed? I can probably accept early closure during the winter months but not in what is technically the tourist season from Easter to the end of October. Is the centre closed at a result of budget restraints?”
Council leader, Labour’s Anthony Hunt, said Cllr Jones was “right to question” the centre’s closure on bank holiday Mondays as it “attracts tourists and helps build footfall” but said it wasn’t due to budget cuts.
Cllr Hunt said: “Recent experience has demonstrated visitor numbers have been low when the centre has been open on bank holiday Mondays. Our staff are not contracted to work on Mondays and the centre not being open is due to practical and pragmatic reasons and not due to budget constraints.”
The Panteg councillor said officers are currently reviewing the centre’s operations including opening hours and bank holiday and said Blaenavon councillors would be kept informed.
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Reduce the entry charge.
What’s happening to the electricity generated by the private wire hydro scheme? The FIT income used to assist the landscape project in Blaenavon.
Surely a mistake The Senedd tell us we are so popular a tourist tax is a good idea , not to mention making life difficult for those providing holiday let’s , yo7 know we are so busy it’s easy to fill property 180 days of the year .
The tourist tax is a way of funding improvements to the visitor economy, not evidence that everything is perfect.
There is zero evidence of that. How is it the Senedd can make it more financially difficult for Tourists & Holiday Let providers, yet at the same time implement a Tourist Tax? The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing! 🤦
Which of Bert’s points are you disagreeing with? The visitor economy needs investment. This needs money. You haven’t proposed an alternative source of cash. Are you really asking ctax payers to stump up even more, or are you proposing to let the sector decline because you’re ok jack.
Perhaps regular temporary exhibitions would encourage repeat visits.