The promotion of tourism to North Dorset could be set for a boost just as Sherborne’s Tourist Information Office closes.

The TiC shut down completely this week as part of a cost-cutting measure by Dorset Council. The council argues that fewer than one per cent of visitors to Dorset used the TiC and has instead granted the town £20k to fund a new online microsite promoting Sherborne.
At the same time, Dorset Council is considering ways to spread visitor numbers away from the Jurassic Coast and instead encourage rural tourism.

“It is one of the conversations we had at cabinet last week,” says Cllr Jill Haynes, whose portfolio is customer and community services.
“We were saying that we don’t need any more tourists at the coast – it’s jam packed, so what could we do to promote the area beyond the coast? Rural tourism is something we want to encourage and we are starting to think about what we can do.”

One of the things being considered is a phone app to promote North Dorset as a walking destination, given the number of established routes including the Wessex Ridgeway, White Hart Link and North Dorset Trailway.

Meanwhile, Sherborne is ploughing ahead with work on the microsite designed to showcase the town online. It will be hosted on the Visit Dorset website, with potential for other towns to piggyback the county’s promotion.
The TiCs in Dorchester and Wareham as well as Sherborne were shut down on Monday. Dorset Council says it will save £200,000 a year in running costs.

It leaves the council with no publicly funded TiCs in Dorset, although there are offices in Blandford, Shaftesbury, Wimborne, Bridport and Swanage run by other organisations. Research shows that it is mostly local people who visit the TiCs, to buy tickets for local events, for information and to buy retail goods. Now the three towns affected are being encouraged to provide such a service elsewhere.

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