ANGRY tourism supporters have attacked Indigo Council over its plan to review the operation of visitor information centres in the shire.
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It was standing room only at the council's meeting on Tuesday night at Beechworth with the shire's staff quizzed over a review of the shire's visitor centres.
The council's consultation on the plans was labelled “bloody pathetic”.
Beechworth Chamber of Commerce secretary Greg Clydesdale said he had received a number of letters of concern and urged the council to delay any decision until his members were consulted.
Beechworth bed and breakfast operator Jim Didolis urged a rethink.
“We're seeing a number of unhappy tourism operators and that's why I'm asking for it to be deferred,” he said.
Responding to the frustration, the council dropped its original recommendation that would have seen changes to Beechworth's visitor centre from July 1 and reviews of other sites.
Instead former mayor Bernard Gaffney moved successfully to adjourn consideration of the review and arrange a meeting with those whose livelihood depends on tourism.
“Tourism is the lifeblood of this shire, it is now part of our culture and a source of our wealth and lifestyle – it must be protected at all costs,” Cr Gaffney said.
“The competition for tourists is extreme, we must strive for product supremacy.”
Cr Jenny O'Connor told the gallery that Cr Gaffney's step acknowledged councillors had been inundated with concerns and was wanted to listen.
"This decision was discussed before the meeting tonight in response to all the emails and phone calls and personal representations that people had in relation to this," Cr O'Connor said.
"For those of you who say we don't listen and we don't care and haven't taken on board any of the concerns, I can reassure you that is actually not the case and we came to this meeting tonight very much prepared to...consult with the stakeholders."
Cr O'Connor and mayor James Trenery dismissed rumours of any plans to shut the Beechworth visitor centre.
The council's tourism and community manager Clayton Neil reviewed services in the wake of a sharp drop in the usage of tourist centres.
Increased usage of websites has been blamed for the downturn which has seen a 33 per cent decline in visitors to the Beechworth centre over the past 12 months from 122,570 to 81,675.
Phone and email inquiries have also slumped.
