Visitors have helped a tourist centre buck a downward trend to record one of its highest ever January figures.

As other tourist honey-pots like the Bronte shrine of Haworth Parsonage and the National Trust's East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley, have seen thousands fewer people through their doors, Haworth Tourist Information Centre has seen them pouring in.

Last month 6,499 people visited the office at the top of Main Street to register the best January figure in the last three years.

There were 6,463 visitors in January 1998 and 6,045 in 1997.

"January is the quietest month of the year but the figures show that Haworth is still very popular on the tourist trail,'' said TIC manager Tricia Tillotson.

Last year there were 151,945 people using the TIC - about the same as the previous year - many of them foreign tourists, especially Japanese and Americans who were interested in the Brontes and Bronte country.

Just 200 yards away, at Bronte Parsonage Museum, staff recorded about 82,000 visitors to the home of the famous literary family - a fall of 6,000 on the previous year.

And staff are hoping for a better summer as the museum opens again to the public this weekend after four weeks of closure for painting and carpet laying.

Like National Trust staff at East Riddlesden Hall they blame the poor summer last year, and possibly the World Cup, for the fall in visitor figures.

East Riddlesden's Liz Houseman said: "It was a very poor summer - wet and cold. We believe that had a big impact on visitors and the World Cup didn't help.''

Last year saw 25,157 people visit the hall, a slump of 5,000 on the previous year.

In June, World Cup month, there were only 2,689 visitors compared with 3,462 in 1997 and October was one of the worst months, with 2,224 compared to 3,551 in 1997.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the area, had 114,000 visitors last year, a fall of 3,000.

But officials blame the drop on the closure of Ingrow tunnel in October while Yorkshire Water carried out repairs.

Railway chairman Graham Mitchell, said: "Until September we were level pegging with 1997 and very pleased but then we were hit hard by the closure of the tunnel."

l Haworth TIC is awaiting the arrival in the spring of a new computer, thanks to a donation from Yorkshire Tourist Board.

It will enable the staff to access the internet and provide a booking service for visitors.

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