Fewer than 500 tourists visited the Totnes tourist information point set up at the town’s Guildhall this summer.

That worked out at an average of 117 a month for the four months the manned information point was open during the summer at a cost to taxpayers of more than £7,000.

And some of the information that people came in for had little to do with tourism, according to the latest marketing report from Visit Totnes.

Some wanted to know about busking in the town, or where they could scatter someone’s ashes, the report related.

The information point at Totnes Guildhall was opened on a pilot basis in July this year following the controversial closure of the town’s tourist information centre at Town Mill in August last year. The Guildhall point closed at the end of October.

The report revealed that in those four months, 469 people came in to access information from temporary information officer Ruby Sylvester.

The report explained that the visitors had come from Europe, Canada, Australia and the US, as well as the UK.

The report said the nature of the enquiries had involved “travel, accommodation, events, eateries, directions, attractions, things to do, maps and Transition queries”.

There were also some “more suited to the council, eg the scattering of ashes, busking and long-term parking”, added the report.

It said the information point sold £35 worth of maps.

Totnes Town Council originally agreed to close down the Town Mill TIC, which it funded, to save money, replacing it with unmanned information points around the town.

But many town councillors said that was not good enough for Totnes and eventually the council agreed to fund the reopening of a manned information point for four months.

When it confirms its budget next year, Totnes Town Council will have to decide whether it wants to find more cash to continue funding a manned information point in the town for the coming year, as well as pinpointing a location for it.

The marketing report for September and October this year from the town council-funded Visit Totnes, which runs its own website and produces a town guide, was produced by destination manager Samantha Branch.

It included details of review articles on Totnes that have appeared online or in magazines and other publications, and the top 10 countries people are accessing the Visit Totnes website from.

The UK is the highest, followed respectively by the US, Germany, Spain, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland and Italy.

The report explained that the deadline for next year’s Totnes Guide was November 10 and added that “there were a few less advertisers this year – however, there are only two less pages than last year’s guide and we have offered web-only packages as well as guide packages this year to boost the

revenue”.

Samantha said she had sent an e-newsletter to existing advertisers, local businesses and “stake-holders”, asking for winter staycation offers such as “buy a meal and get a

bottle of wine, or stay two nights for the price of one” to try to boost visitor

numbers during the slower times of the season.

“I didn’t have any response, so I wasn’t able to run this campaign, which was very disappointing,” she said.