PEOPLE are staying away from Bournemouth town centre in greater numbers as the country teeters on the brink of recession.

Director of tourism Mark Smith told councillors that total “footfall” is down by 2.8 per cent so far this year, following even bigger drops in 2005 and 2006.

Mr Smith told Bournemouth and Poole economic overview panel that the core retail hours of 9.30am to 5.30pm were down by two per cent, while Sundays were up by 4.1 per cent and Thursday evenings by nine per cent.

But the greatest reduction was at night, when there were 17 per cent fewer people around between 9pm and midnight. This was offset by an increase in footfall between midnight and 4am.

“These figures appear to be better than the experience of many regional towns, where the average decline is being reported as down 3.4 per cent,” said the report to the Bournemouth and Poole economic overview panel.

He added some retailers had improved their sales figures, while others had slashed their profit margins to “prop up” turnover.

A number of independent traders had shut up shop, while mergers in the banking and travel sectors would add to the number of difficult to let empty premises.

“The outlook remains gloomy. Many property agents are reporting falling rents and a diminished number of inquiries have been received in the last two quarters.

“The prospect of a major retail failure could have a massive detrimental impact on the town centre and create another large void in a virtually unsellable, unlettable property,” he warned.

Conference delegates were expected to be six per cent down on the previous year, when the Labour Party held its annual conference in Bournemouth Mr Smith said concern had been expressed about the number of budget hotels and new restaurants planned for the town, with rising overheads already affecting profits of established businesses.

On the plus side, Mr Smith said the international education sector was “booming”, with local figures up by 11 per cent and national figures by eight per cent.