Tourist hub moves BACK to Buchanan Street

GLASGOW’S VisitScotland hub is to relocate from its Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) home to a new city centre location in a £200,000 move.

Dubbed an iCentre, the tourist facility caused controversy last July when it moved from Buchanan Street to the museum because of its lack of accessiblity.

Now, just one year on, bosses said the iCentre will move at a cost of £200,000 to an unnamed site that is likely to be back on Buchanan Street.

At the same time, the VisitScotland hub in Glasgow Airport will close.

It comes as the organisation is to close almost two thirds of its tourist offices after footfall to its information centres has dropped 58 per cent in the past decade.

It plans to cut the number of information centres from 65 to 26 “high impact regional hubs” in locations of greatest visitor demand over the next two years.

Staff will be offered the options of redeployment, retraining or voluntary redundancy.

The original VisitScotland hub on Buchanan Street was forced to move due to the expansion of Buchanan Galleries.

At the time, Council Nina Baker said of the move to GoMA: “Although technically accessible, it is totally out of sight and for tourists I would think visibility and ease of access is vital. What other world class city, as we aspire to be, would do this?”

A spokesman for VisitScotland said: “Our review of the way visitors access information has highlighted the need to have our own premises in Glasgow.

“Some £200,000 will be invested in the new high-impact centre.”