FOUR information points for tourists are to be closed as district councillors strive to cope with their financial capping by the Government.

The volunteer-run offices will be shut down as Hambleton District Council attempts to claw back £25,000 from its tourism budget.

Instead, local businesses and their employees are to be enlisted as ambassadors for their towns.

They will be asked to supply leaflets and information from their bases, rather than directing visitors to the traditional tourist points.

Two market towns are to adopt the service this spring, with Bedale and Great Ayton closing their present tourist information points.

Easingwold and Northallerton will follow suit next year - leaving Thirsk as the district's tourist information centre.

The district council was capped by central Government last year for introducing a high percentage council tax rise, forcing the widespread slashing of budgets.

The closure of the information points is just one of the measures being employed to shave £25,000 from the tourism budget.

Other measures include the pruning of the marketing budget, plus a staffing review at The World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk - where restructuring meant no jobs were lost.

Visitor numbers at the tourist information points have been steadily dropping over the last five years.

In Bedale, the total number of visitors using the facility has dropped from 8,910 in 1999 to 6,481 last year. In Great Ayton, the numbers dropped from from 6,252 to 4,313, Northallerton fell from 17,556 to 14,149, and Easingwold saw a slump from 6,371 to 5,569.

"We have had to have a radical re-think of how we deliver many services as a result of the capping judgement - and tourist information is one of them," said council cabinet member Ralph Andrew.

He added: "We greatly value the work undertaken by volunteers at all our centres, but we hope this new system will provide us with even more ambassadors for our region.

"Through the new network, visitors and local people will be able to glean information at any time of the day - 365 days a year.

"Under the current regime, the centres have been seasonal and are often not open at weekends and during bank holidays - the very time visitors are around.