A much-needed tourist information centre could be returning to Weymouth.

Weymouth BID has approached Weymouth and Portland Borough Council with an offer to open the ground floor office of the Weymouth BID office in St Alban Street.

If agreed, the office will become the We Are Weymouth Tourist Information Centre.

The new TIC, manned by volunteers, will be able to host leaflets, tourist information, posters, maps and other materials for visitors to the town.

The centre will also be a control point for the We Are Weymouth 'Weyfarers' who will be there to meet and greet the 35,000 cruise ship passengers who are scheduled to arrive in Weymouth this year.

Nigel Reed, manager of Weymouth BID said: “Weymouth needs a TIC – it is something that Weymouth has needed for a long time and now that other TIC ventures appear to have fallen by the wayside, the BID have taken action by offering the ground floor offices to the local authority.

"The fascia of the office in St Alban Street will be repainted with the We Are Weymouth branding.

"The success of the TIC will be down to the number of volunteers that step forward to man the front desk.

"We will be giving training and support to the volunteers so I would encourage anyone who is interested to contact me as soon as possible”.

Nigel added that the We Are Weymouth brand has gone from strength to strength with the WeAreWeymouth.co.uk website attracting more than 100 per cent more visitors in 2017 than it did in 2016.

David Lakins, owner of Key Multimedia in Poundbury who are digital marketing consultants to Weymouth BID said: “We have been working with the WeAreWeymouth brand since September 2015 and during that time we have seen meteoric growth in both visitor numbers and engagement to the site.

"Having relevant, eye catching content and stories in blogs on the website plus posts on the facebook page really helps to grow the audience and encourage visitors to Weymouth, which is one of the main aims of the Weymouth BID business plan."

It is hoped that the We Are Weymouth Tourist Information Centre will be fully operational by the start of the summer season.

Nick Thornley, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's head of economy, leisure and tourism said: "We are aware of the importance of providing accurate information to visitors.

"We provided funding to help set up a Visitor Information Centre at the Heights Hotel on Portland and we have identified and promote a network of Information Points in Weymouth.

"We have also invested in the visit-dorset.com website to promote the area, working with local businesses, and to provide visitor information.

"The plan by the BID to provide a service to support local businesses and visitors is something we very much welcome and we plan to hold discussions with them to see how we might support it."

Although businesses in the town are supportive of the idea of of TIC, they share concerns over the proposed location and its running.

Bob Rezaei from Crustacean said: "We need a TIC in the town.

"The BID office is not an ideal position but it's better than nothing.

"As the BID is not using the ground floor of the office it would be an ideal to utilise the space.

"What we need is our old TIC on the promenade back. The main cost of running TIC would be staffing and if the council is happy to provide staffing, why don't they open the old one again.

Shaun Hennessy from Gunz Barbers said the town "desperately" needs a TIC but experienced staff are need to run it.

He said: "The situation of it being down a side street is hardly ideal, coupled with the fact that the BID stand a very good chance of being voted out of existence in 14 months time - one assumes the lease in the premises has to expire then and it would be deeply remiss for the current board to have committed for a linger lease.

"Therefore the council could be investing money in a very short term project. Would that be best value?

"Does the town not deserve better than sticky tape to repair a hole? It needs sensible actions from the council in placing a TIC in a prominent well advertised location with a longer-term lease to allow holiday makers and the holiday trade to reacquaint themselves with it."