A county councillor has been knocked back in an attempt to get Monmouth's Tourist Information Centre (TIC) moved back to the Shire Hall.

Councillor Bob Hayward asked if the move could happen while Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) officers continue to consult on the future of tourism services.

Kellie Beirne, chief officer for regeneration and culture, said the TIC could not move during the consultation period as it would pre-empt its findings, but did not rule out a future move.

They were speaking at a special meeting of the Economy and Development Select Committee last Wednesday (19th January).

Ms Beirne and Farooq Dastgir, MCC's director of technology-led transformation, had given county councillors a presentation on tourism in the county.

"Tourist information services are essential to our economy, but are TICs essential?" asked Ms Beirne.

"This revision of services is not about spending cuts, it is not about closure or loss of service and there isn't one business model for all TICs," she added.

Ms Beirne said there was no 'Brand Monmouthshire' web presence and there was untapped potential in marketing the county as the 'Gateway to Wales'.

Monmouthshire currently sits 15th out of 22 Welsh local authorities in terms of money brought in by tourism.

The county's spend is £142 million compared to a Welsh average of £270m.

"You've got to go through Monmouthshire to get to some of these places so it would make sense to start grabbing some of the passing trade," said Ms Beirne.

"Planning a trip generally involves some web-based planning and technology is increasingly a feature at the destination."

Mr Dastgir, who has worked for Microsoft and Cisco, told members he was working to improve Monmouthshire's tourism service through the use of digital media.

One idea is to set up a system that would mean every mobile phone coming into the county would receive a text message saying 'Welcome to Monmouthshire'.

Mr Dastgir said a similar system in the Yorkshire Dales had been a success.

Councillors were shown the websites of various 'market leaders' in tourism around the world including London, Manchester and the Czech Republic.

Mr Dastgir added that ideas could be taken from paris-26-gigapixels.com, which gives a 360 degree view of the French capital, Microsoft packages Photosynth and Silverlight, and websites such as GPSmycity.com and earthcam.com

Members were told it was important when installing technology to have "modern, user friendly digital portals – not kiosks".

Ms Beirne said customer service was "an important part of the visitor brand, but we must remember that tourism happens across the county, not just in TICs".

She added: "I am not advocating a whole-scale shift to digital tourism".

Cllr Hayward said there used to be a tourist information group within the committee, which was once told 'Brand Monmouthshire' was a bad idea.

Looking at the spending figures, Cllr Hayward and other members questioned how reliable the statistics could be and exactly how the impact of TICs or the tourism website can be worked out.

Cllr John Prosser said it was important to keep local knowledge and asked for "good, accurate and believeable feedback".

Councillors largely agreed that Monmouthshire is under-selling itself but stated their desire to keep the county's TICs open.

Ms Beirne said: "It don't think TICs are paying for themselves – we have to look at other things".

Cllr Hayward said: "People are saying in Monmouth that the reason visitor numbers are going down is the location of the TIC.

"There is an agreement with TIC staff that they would act as reception staff in the Shire Hall so can we move the TIC to the Shire Hall in the interim period?

"Can someone tell me why we can't move it as was the original plan?"

Ms Beirne said: "I am not advocating the closure of TICs, this is about modernisation.

"It is a very interesting point about the Shire Hall but we can't move it as it would pre-empt the report but that's what I would call a sustainable alternative.

"It could well be an option."