Waveney: Report praise for TICs

TOURIST Information Centres (TICs) in Lowestoft and Southwold are celebrating the results of the National TIC Mystery Shopper Campaign.

The campaign includes all 302 National Partner TIC's across England and looks at customer care through

e-mail, personal and telephone inquiries. The report is then used to rank each TIC through its level of customer service.

Lowestoft was ranked 20th nationally and first in the east of England, with Southwold ranked 44th nationally and fourth in the east of England.

Lowestoft TIC performed exceptionally well in the e-mail section of the survey, scoring 96pc - the second highest mark in the country.

The mystery shopper report praised staff at both TICs for how welcoming, productive and informative the centres were. It will now be used to further develop the information services on the Sunrise Coast to ensure the national ranking continues to grow.

Wendy Mawer, portfolio holder for regeneration, said: 'This result backs up the hard work that our teams put in and I am absolutely delighted that it has received this recognition.'

This year has provided a number of successes in tourism within Waveney, as the area has seen its best year

since the record breaking summer of 2003.

As a result, the majority of tourism businesses have reported an increase in business by around 10-15pc, as many UK residents chose to holiday at home, rather than fly abroad.

Denise Thompson, commercial and public relations manager at Pleasurewood Hills, said working closely with Lowestoft and Southwold Tourist Information Centres had contributed to this year's success.

Meanwhile, Lowestoft Seafront Air Show saw its biggest crowds ever,

with 425,000 people attending over two days, while the Latitude Festival had 35,000 attendees on each of its four days.

In September, Waveney learnt it had been nominated by Visit England as a case study for good practice in tourism management.