TOURISM has received a huge cash boost of £50,000 to attract more visitors to a Worcestershire town and the surrounding area.

The money will be used to recruit a tourism co-ordinator for Tenbury Wells, set up a Tourist Information Centre, produce a town guide and improve signage for visitors.

Events planned by the Tenbury Area Partnership will also be better publicised.

These are some of the actions recommended in the Tenbury and Burford Parish Plan, which identified tourism as a key concern. Malvern Hills District Council is adding £12,500 to a European Union grant of £37,500 for the tourism project, which will run until December 2006.

It will be managed by MHDC, together with Tenbury Area Partnership and Burford, Little Hereford and Tenbury Tourism Group.

The main focus of the project will be to attract more visitors, but the new tourism co-ordinator will also work closely with local tourism businesses to help them benefit from the project. This will include networking events for local businesses and helping businesses get suitable training and advice.

Lee Robson, the district council's head of community and economic development, said the hard work of town and district councillors, together with Tenbury Tourism Group, had been rewarded.

"This, however, is just the beginning and we are optimistic that the project will deliver real and lasting improvements," he said.