A visitor information centre is to close after council officials found most people using it were neighbours, not tourists.

The centre at Hove Town Hall will be replaced by a 24-hour electronic visitor information point, a free phone link to the tourist call centre and tourism displays at public buildings.

Brighton and Hove Council found that of 19,000 people who called in every year, almost three-quarters were locals asking about travel information and bus tickets.

It says it cannot justify paying for such a service from tourism budgets and is looking for another outlet in Hove to deal with travel queries.

If councillors agree, the centre will close but town hall staff will still handle tourism services via phone, fax, email and the internet. No one will be made redundant.

The figures were revealed when tourism chiefs looked at ways to save £25,000 a year on services.

There will be shorter opening hours at the Brighton visitor information centre in Bartholomew Square.

A council spokesman said: "Hove's counter staff were not dealing mainly with tourists or conference goers anyway, so we can't fund that kind of service from a tourism budget."