ST IVES Tourist Information Centre (TIC) has been saved from closure.

A working party of seven town councillors met on Monday to agree on a plan to revamp the service.

From April 1, St Ives Town Council will take charge of running the Guildhall-based centre which employs four staff.

"Staff and councillors are enthusiastic about it and in the economy we are living in and being the premier resort in the UK we feel we need to continue offering certain services to our visitors," said Cllr Colin Nicholls.

The committee will recommend to a full meeting of the Town Council that the authority should take over the running of the service.

If supported, the council would simplify the current offering and rename it the Information Point.

"We are anticipating staying in the Guildhall and encouraging tourism providers and traders to get on board with us. It is a bit of a gamble but it will work providing that we have the enthusiasm of traders," Mr Nicholls continued.

"We are expected to do it and hope to offer something, however the exact format is still undecided."

David Tremelling, chair of St Ives Hotel and Guesthouse Association, said they would have been sorry to see the TIC go, but said only one per cent of the TIC's activities were accommodation related.

"They seem to be organising more trips to other resorts rather than concentrating on what's happening here," he said.

"A small number of our members get some benefits from the TIC and statistics suggest that the TIC, if it was the only effort, would fill a very small guesthouse for a season.

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"The number of bookings from the TIC over a season could in theory fill a two-bed guesthouse and everybody else would be empty.

"However, we would be sorry to see it go because it is part of the town's welcome."

A group has also been set up in Penzance which is drawing up a business plan for how a future TIC might operate there.

The two centres, along with Falmouth, account for around 70 per cent of Cornwall Council's £450,000 tourism budget, which is being slashed by £250,000 this year.