The Royal Pavilion has suffered a 20 per cent drop in visitors.

Brighton and Hove City Council, which owns the building, is looking at changing its opening hours and improving marketing to win back custom.

The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease put off many foreign visitors.

Then the tragedies of September 11 in America made many people cancel air travel to the UK.

Many overseas group bookings have already been cancelled and hire of the Pavilion for functions has dropped off.

Culture director Sarah Tanburn said: "Admissions to the Royal Pavilion have also been affected by the unsightly disruptions in the gardens generated by the delay on redevelopment works on the Dome and museum, which have made the area appear closed for business."

The reopening of the museum next spring will coincide with a range of new promotions on the Royal Pavilion estate, including special days out.

Councillors at a meeting on Tuesday will be asked to open the Pavilion half an hour earlier during the summer, at 9.30am, and extend the season to include April, may and June.

This is because large queues of visitors, especially those in groups, arrive outside the Pavilion before 10am, resulting in slow admission.

The new proposals mean the palace would close earlier in the evenings, following research showing few people went there then.

Opening hours would be extended at the museum when it reopens from 38 to 40 a week and the closure day changed from Wednesday to Monday in line with national trends.

Admission fees would be put up in line with inflation but tour charges would be held at the current rate and hire charges of rooms would go up only where the market would bear the increase.

Culture cabinet councillor Ian Duncan said: "New visitor-friendly opening hours and completion of the museum and art gallery will help us recover over the next four years."