A NEW state-of-the-art visitor information centre is being developed which is already being described as the best in the country.

The centre, in a grade II-listed building on Museum Street, York, is being developed at a cost of £900,000 and is intended to be a flagship for the region when it opens in the autumn.

The cost includes £481,000 from the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and £100,000 from the City of York Council.

The rest is made up of the value placed on the work by York Conservation Trust to renovate the building and on Visit York in managing the project.

Visit York chairman John Yeomans said: "This is the biggest single investment in visitor information for many years. Our vision is to make this centre the very best in the country.

"What’s important to stress too is that this new information centre will be very much at the heart of the city and the region, a resource which can be used by residents and visitors – a centre for all."

The new centre will make extensive use of new technology and is being designed to act as a gateway and showcase for the region.

The current visitor information centre at the city’s De Grey Rooms attracts around 240,000 visitors per year.

In the first full year of trading at Museum Street, Visit York aims to attract 96,000 more visitors through the doors, bringing the total to 336,000 - a 40 per cent increase - and has ambitions to take the figure to 400,000 in the subsequent year.