ANNUAL REPORT SUMMARY 2024 

Visit Dorset activity to support the Dorset visitor economy 2024 

Website Development 

  • Delivering a programme of ongoing development on our visit-dorset.com website.  Managing a schedule of content creation and contract management to ensure that best use is made of all the site functionality available to us. 

  • Launch of new microsite (mini town website under the Visit Dorset umbrella) in partnership with Swanage Town Council in January 2024 and continued management of Lyme Regis and Sherborne sites in partnership with both town councils. 

  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) development strategy in place providing in depth reports, structured guidance on content development and monthly health checks to ensure the site’s continued growth and success. 

  • Annual web users of over 1.8 million (Jan – Dec 2024), with a 5% increase of total pageviews compared to the previous year. Marketing plans in place to continue to raise the profile of Visit Dorset in 2025.The Visit Dorset website has continued to see growth and engagement and remains one of the highest performing destination sites across all of Simpleview’s* European clients. The site is described as ‘best in class’ for engagement rate. 

  • Effective use of ‘Crowdriff’ a software platform which sources Dorset imagery directly from social media, keeping the site authentic and engaging.    

Marketing & Promotional Campaigns 

  • Visit Dorset was awarded the ‘Digital Campaign Excellence – best digital marketing campaign of the year’ at the Simpleview European Summit Client Awards in September. The award recognised the team’s work in creating an effective, targeted video campaign ‘A world less travelled’ featuring a series of 4 new videos promoting the amazing holiday experiences in Dorset and inspiring people to visit. The campaign generated 6 million views of the video across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube showcasing Dorset to our key target markets. Visit Dorset was praised for its cost-effective campaign which generated big results and stood out amongst the other nominees including Marketing Manchester, Andalucia Tourism and Cumbria Tourism. 
     

  • Visit Dorset received a 2 year allocation of £78,000 under the UK Shared Prosperity Funding government allocation for Dorset Council. Year 1 funding was used to commission a marketing segmentation project to understand the different types of current and potential visitors to Dorset in order to identify potential growth segments and support more targeted marketing activity. Part of the year 2 funds were used to carry out an autumn marketing campaign based on the research. 
     

  • The autumn campaign ‘Inspired by Dorset’ was a collaboration with the Dorset Museum’s Association to highlight the variety of museums around the county, strengthen their profiles and reach new audiences. 12 museums took part and hosted creative events or celebrated artworks and local artists who have been inspired by Dorset. The campaign ran for 30 days including the October half term and was delivered using Visit Dorset’s social channels and google ads with a link to a campaign page on visit-dorset. This successful visual campaign reached 1.4 million people locally and encouraged visits to the museums at a quieter time of the year for them. 
     

  • Partnership campaign with the Camp Bestival team to install 50 train card panels across South, Surrey and Sussex railway network to promote the festival and Dorset, together with a competition and joint e-newsletter promotions.  

  • Produced a summary guide to Visit Dorset campaigns throughout the year and invited businesses to work with us to support our activity via their own channels using our marketing assets.  

  • Produced a 50,000 print run of our Dorset Days Out fold out map leaflet with free promotion to 46 existing Visit Dorset attraction and activity businesses to encourage visits. 

  • Dec 2024: Instagram 42.5k followers (+8% on 2023); Facebook 42.2k fans (+1.7% and 4.1 million reach); TikTok 1.2K followers, launched May ‘23. 

  • 12 consumer e-newsletters with an average reach of 24,000 per newsletter and an open rate of 35% (2% increase from 2023)  

  • Partnered with England’s Coast in a dedicated Autumn campaign with a blog and landing page for Dorset and adverts across Facebook, Instagram and Google raising exposure and inspiring people to visit Dorset.  Supported the England’s Coast A5 brochure that was taken to the Vakantiebeurs exhibition with a half page advert for Dorset. Also contributed to the England’s Coast Wildlife & Nature blog promoting Dorset.    

  • Continued strengthening working partnership with the North Dorset Tourism Group to promote hidden gems of Rural/North Dorset including an interactive map of the White Hart Link Trail, campaign pages on visit-dorset.com to promote businesses in the area and new video content for North Dorset, Shaftesbury and Blandford.Discover the Serene Beauty of Rural North Dorset (visit-dorset.com).  

 

  • Visit Dorset worked in partnership with colleagues in Dorset Council, Portland and Weymouth Town Councils on a positive campaign showcasing the Weymouth & Portland area. The campaign aimed to dispel some of the misinformed negativity and media coverage around the arrival of the Bibby Stockholm in Portland Harbour. The campaign complemented Visit Dorset’s own campaigns with targeted marketing activity  
     

  • 27 new blogs written by the Visit Dorset team as well as 12 guest blogs.  
     
    Business Support  
     

  • Successful networking event for 55 businesses held at The Sherborne in November 2024. Presentation on how to use our SPF funded market segmentation research to help businesses with better target marketing, an update from the Visit Dorset team and The Growth Hub 
     

  • Ongoing programme of account management support for Visit Dorset’s paying members to discuss how to make the most of their partnership working with us. Positive meetings with members throughout the year. Businesses felt supported and started to really understand how to utilise all membership benefits. 

 

  • Regular meetings with businesses and organisations to encourage partnership working and continue to grow our Visit Dorset members across the county. 

  • Regular e-newsletters to members and wider business groups across Dorset summarising training opportunities, business events, new legislation and business toolkits, awards schemes, Visit Dorset membership benefits, our marketing campaigns, survey participation and results.  

  • With the increased use of LinkedIn platform Visit Dorset has now added an extra 115 followers that are interacting and reposting our Linkedin news.  Visit Dorset LinkedIn account now has 412 followers and this is growing every week.  All new members have been welcomed and promoted and this will continue into 2025. 

  • Promoting training, marketing and business networking opportunities for Dorset tourism businesses.  

  • Promotion of training for tourism businesses including business development, funding applications and digital skills, working with partners such as the Dorset Mentors and the Growth Hub. 

  • Promotion of Dorset’s late availability, special offers and additional feature advertising opportunities. 

  • Planning and delivery of Group Travel Networking Event April hosted by the Marsham Court Hotel. Assisted Association of Group Travel Organisers (AGTO) with planning of familiarisation trips for February 2025 as part of annual conference. 

  • Online booking connectivity improvements include linking with TXGB to enable online booking connections with over 200 booking systems and distributors. 

  • Sponsored the ‘New Tourism Business’ category for the 2023/24 Dorset Tourism Awards and presented to successful businesses at the Awards Celebration Event at Weymouth Pavilion. Assisted with promotion of the awards scheme throughout the year. Very pleased to see The Nothe Fort going on to win Gold and The Acorn Inn Silver at the VisitEngland Excellence Awards 

  • Promoted English Tourism Week, Small Business Saturday and other national initiatives  

  • Attended tourism forums, Chamber and BID meetings to understand the difficulties facing sectors of the economy linked to tourism and feedback to government via the GSW Tourism Partnership 

Press and PR  

Supported press and media enquiries throughout the year including:  

  • Press trips and support/images offered for articles in The Telegraph, The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, BBC Springwatch, Coast Magazine, Woman Magazine and a 12 page feature in the BBC Countryfile Magazine, as well as publications in Portgual, Norway and Italy. 

The team supported and promoted a range of national film and TV productions throughout 2024: 

  • Attenborough and the Giant Sea Monster aired on BBC One and PBS in U.S.A. 

  • BBC’s Winterwatch 2024 was based at RSPB Arne Nature Reserve. 

  • Bill Bailey Perfect Pub Walks series for More 4 featured Durlston Country Park, Studland, Kingston and Worth Matravers. 

  • BBC Two’s Great British Railway Journeys at Swanage and Corfe Castle with an Enid Blyton connection. 

  • BBC Two’s Hairy Bikers Go West – final episode of the series focussed on Dorset. 

  • A third BBC One Antiques Roadshow filmed in Swanage, aired in March. 

  • Channel 5’s The Big Steam Adventure had a focus on Dorset. 

  • BBC’s Springwatch 2024 based at RSPB Arne, also featured Corfe Castle and Hengistbury Head. 

  • BBC One’s Countryfile featured Hengistbury Head. 

  • Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out on Channel 5 focussed on Lyme Regis.  

  • Season 3 of Netflix's Heartstopper was partly filmed in Lyme Regis. 

  • BBC Two’s final episode of Series 7 Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing was set in Dorset. 


Social Media Collaborations and Competitions  

Regular competitions set up with industry partners and promoted through digital channels with high success rates: 

  • Weekend of Culture competition with Dorchester TC (7,324 entrants) 

  • Lyme Regis Photo competition - £300 voucher to spend with Toad Hall Cottages (362 entrants) 

  • Camp Bestival family day ticket competition (2,068 entrants). 

  • Langham Wine/Kings Arms stay & wine tour competition (5,864 entrants). 

  • Monart Spa competition (3,283 entrants) 

 

Working with social media influencers  

 

As part of our World Less Travelled campaign, Visit Dorset hosted a series of high profile social media influencers on our Instagram account: 

  • In January, we worked with Spiral Flyer who stayed at Clifftops, Portland, visited Portland Bill and Portland Castle and dined at The Heights, The Hayloft, The Ship and the E-Bike Café.  

  • In June, we collaborated with The Nomads You Know on a 2 night stay, working with our members Unique Hideaways, Dorset Nectar Cider, Lyme Bay RIB Charter, Fore Adventure and Sae Seaweed.  

  • In September we hosted Adventures of Alice who stayed at Dorset Forest Garden Glamping with experiences at Furleigh Wine Estate, the Blue Pool, Symondsbury Estate and the Official Test Centre. 

  • In October we worked with Roaming with Maria and Shot By Jose who showcased autumn in Sherborne, Shaftesbury and North Dorset with partners The Eastbury, The Grosvenor Arms, Sherborne Castle, English Heritage, The Sherborne and Sherborne Abbey.  


Sustainability  

  • Signposting of resources, funding, and case studies on the Visit Dorset Industry site to help businesses become more sustainable. 

  • Promotion of green tourism section on the Visit Dorset website including travel, accommodation, local produce, electric vehicles etc, aimed at visitors to Dorset. The new blog for 2024 is 10 Ways to Explore Dorset On Foot and By Bus. 

  • Promotion of ‘out of season’ campaigns to encourage visitors to take holidays/short breaks out of the main holiday season to spread visitor numbers and tackle the issue of seasonality. Monthly blogs to promote the top reasons to visit Dorset in January, February, March etc showcasing Dorset as a year-round destination. 

  • Monthly promotion of Visit Dorset sustainable website content on Facebook to tie in with national campaigns such as bike week, car free day and Small Business Saturday. 

 
Partnership working 

VisitEngland and Dept Media Culture and Sport (DCMS) 

Regular meetings with the South West VisitEngland Account Manager to share best practice, data, business support and national marketing campaign opportunities, to support the government agenda for England’s visitor economy. 

In May Visit Dorset hosted a familiarisation visit with VisitEngland and DCMS to discuss Dorset’s visitor Economy and the progress of the Dorset Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP). 
 

Great South West Tourism Partnership (GSWTP) 

Fortnightly meetings throughout 2024 with tourism leads across the south west, the Head of Tourism for DCMS and VisitEngland.  The partnership is key to co-ordinating regional marketing campaigns, collaborative impact surveys and effective lobbying to government for industry support.   

Partners continued to work to their comprehensive plan ‘Towards 2030’ on key issues affecting the industry and used this to attract funding bids from government. 

Dorset Tourism Association  

Regular board meetings with sector representatives highlighting the impact of the cost of living crisis on all sectors of Dorset’s visitor economy; feedback used to support businesses, lobby and feedback to the GSWTP. 

Other key partnerships 

  • England’s Coast partnership, supporting coastal destinations. Working together on joint marketing opportunities and Dorset representation in international marketing activity as part of a national consortium. 

  • Working with town councils and BIDs in Swanage, Wimborne, Dorchester, Weymouth, Lyme Regis and Sherborne and Councillors in North Dorset towns to build mutually beneficial partnerships and to grow their local visitor economy 

  • Continued partnership with the Dorset Museums Association on a joint package to enable museums in Dorset to feature on the Visit Dorset site whatever size or set up. 

  • Working with the Arts Development Company, Dorset Council’s appointed strategic development company for culture, to boost promotion of arts and culture through Visit Dorset’s marketing platforms.  

  • Simpleview Rural Focus Group & Simpleview Advisory Group – a handpicked group of destinations working together to share tips and ideas for best practice. 
     

​​Research and consultation 
 

  • Supported the funding of the 2023 South West Business Impact Surveys to measure the impact of the pandemic on the whole region, identify business priorities and use to inform and lobby government and assist with DCMS consultations. Report published Feb 2024. 

  • Assisted with data and funded the Dorset volume and value tourism research via The South West Research Company. Offered opportunity for individual town data reports across Dorset. 

Government and VisitEngland Reviews / Local Visitor Economy Partnership 

The government response to an independent review of Destination Management Organisations in 2021 was to create a national portfolio of around 45 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) working together to support and grow their local visitor economy. To date 34 LVEPs have been accredited by VisitEngland.  

Visit Dorset planned to become an accredited LVEP in partnership with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, together with the Dorset Tourism Association. BCP Council ceased providing services for tourism last year and a new Accommodation Business Improvement District (ABID) was approved for the BCP area in June. The ABID is currently subject to an appeal which is being reviewed by the Secretary of State, this will determine whether this organisation can be our new partner in the BCP area. Dorset Council is committed to leading the application process for the Dorset LVEP and had agreement at Cabinet in July 2024 to act as the accountable body.    

Becoming an accredited Dorset LVEP will enable us to work closer with everyone involved in our industry, have a voice at a national level and potentially have access to funding to support our visitor economy. Visit Dorset intend to submit an application early in 2025. 

  

Glossary of Terms  

*Simpleview is the global website platform provider for tourism destinations 

GSWTP: Great South West Tourism Partnership 

LVEP: Local Visitor Economy Partnership 

DTA: Dorset Tourism Association 

BCP: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 

DMCS: Dept of Media, Culture and Sport