Town produces a bright 'n' breezy look for the tourist

A NEW tourist guide has been launched to promote Looe as a visitor destination.

The 2010 Looe Guide brochure is available in the town's Tourist Information Centre and is the first produced solely by the town council for many years.

The council stopped producing a guide when the former Caradon District Council began producing its own South East Cornwall Guide. It then merged into the Visit Cornwall guide about four years ago.

Looe's TIC continued to send out the Cornwall guide but realised prospective visitors wanted a guide to the Looe area not the whole of Cornwall.

For the last three years a contracted company has been producing a guide for the TIC but manager Mark Camp said with advertising costs spiralling ever upwards the number of advertisers was declining and the guide was losing its usefulness.

He said: "For 2010 it was decided to try and produce a guide ourselves. We looked at the costs and the skills we had in the TIC and decided that even after dropping the advertising costs substantially, we could still produce our own guide and raise some much needed funds for the TIC.

"The 32-page full colour guide not only features accommodation but also information on where to go, what to do and what to eat. It has an events listing with prominence given to the Looe Festival by the Sea and the Polperro Festival.

"We have to market the area not just Looe and if we want people to visit we need to show them what is going on, what they can do, not just where they can stay."

Over 150 copies of the guide have already been sent out across the country and are currently being distributed throughout Information Centres in Cornwall and West Devon. The new head of Visit Cornwall, Malcolm Bell, has also received a copy.

Looe mayor, Michael Joy added: "Looe TIC is fully committed to supporting tourism in the town and the surrounding area and we are indebted to Mark Camp for all the hard work that has gone in to producing this guide that will really put Looe at the top of the holiday agenda for many potential visitors."

For more information go to the tourist information centre or contact them on 01503 262072.