Visitors to St George have been in the firing line of budget cuts as the old town has been left without a Visitor Information Centre for about two months.Tourists have had no choice but to seek assistance from locals in the street as there has been nowhere for them to go for information.The lack of a dedicated tourist outlet has been branded “disgraceful” at a time when the Government “should be bending over backwards” to promote the Island.The delay in the VIC re-opening for the summer season is down to the Department of Tourism’s cost-cutting measures. The contract was put out to tender at 50 percent less than what was offered last year.This led to lengthy negotiations with interested parties saying it was not commercially viable to operate the VIC at that price.But the National Trust is stepping in to run the town’s VIC from Monday. The VIC will be based at the Globe Hotel on York Street, with an additional tourist stand at Penno’s Wharf to serve cruise ship passengers.Businessman and former St George’s Mayor Henry Hayward said: “Visitors have been stopping me on the street and asking me where the Visitor Information Centre is?“I’ve been sending them to the World Heritage Centre as there are brochures there for them to pick up. But that’s it, there’s no VIC right now.“I think it’s unbelievable, really disgraceful. Here we are trying to cater for visitors, so many people come to St. George’s but there’s been nowhere for them to get help.“There have been VICs in Hamilton and Dockyard. It indicates that St George’s is not seen as an important destination for tourists.”The contract to run the St George VIC should have been in place by April 1 when it’s contract at the World Heritage Centre came to an end.Government put the contract out to tender in early March with The National Trust and St George’s Foundation, which runs the World Heritage Centre Foundation, both wanting to operate the VIC.However, concerns were expressed when both parties were informed that “only half of what was offered last year” was to be paid.Mr Hayward, who is CEO of the Meyer Group, said: “There was no one willing to operate the VIC. There were interested parties but there was this 50 percent reduction.“I understand restraints to budgets but this just wasn’t sufficient and it’s the tourists who were made to suffer.”However, this week representatives from Government and The National Trust have come to “a memorandum of understanding” to provide visitor information services.St George’s Mayor Kenny Bascome said he was pleased the VIC was due to start up again on Monday.He said: “We had hoped the VIC would be up and running before the start of the season. But there has been a little hic-up in regards to the current economic climate.“Moving forward, all I can say is that I wish The National Trust the best of luck.”Jennifer Gray, executive director of The National Trust, said they will be providing the service, but she said no contract had been signed.She said: “We believe our visitors need this service and as such will do the best we can. We have already spent two solid days working on the facility and will be in a position to greet our visitors next week.“The St George’s VIC has only in recent years been put out to tender and we are looking forward to making a success of it.”Ms Gray added that she believed The National Trust’s services were in line with those supplied by the VIC, with a few additional responsibilities.No one at the World Heritage Centre wanted to comment. The Ministry of Tourism did not respond to our requests for comment.