VISITOR numbers to High Wycombe's Tourist Information Centre have plummeted over the last two years.

The dramatic fall - from 119,000 in 1995/96 to 73,885 in 1997/98 - comes after the information centre was moved just yards, from Corn Market to Pauls Row, in June 1996. Income to the High Wycombe centre has also dropped, from £32,500 in 1995/96 to £22,033 in 1997/98.

Telephone inquiries have remained more steady, rising from 13,800 in 1995/96 to 16,269 in 1996/97 and falling to 15,275 in 1997/98.

Visitors to Marlow Tourist Information Centre have risen to 59,003 in 1997/98 from 22,850 in 1995/96 and income has climbed to £22,212 in 1997/98, from £8,290 in 1995/96, since its move from Court Garden to the High Street.

At a meeting of Wycombe District Council's housing and economic development panel on Monday, Roger Bowen, its tourism and cultural services manager, said Marlow had been a success story since it moved and opened all year round. He said conservation regulations in High Wycombe limited the amount of signs that could be put up for the centre.

Cllr Brenda Hughes, a former director of the Thames and Chiltern Tourist Board, and a former member of the Southern Tourist Board, said: "I think we really should make this a major concern of ours to sort it out."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.