Please find below an update highlighting some of the promotional work that is currently being carried out by the Visit Dorset Tourism Partnership (made up of local authority Tourism Officers from West Dorset, Weymouth, Purbeck, Christchurch and East Dorset).
Dorset in media spotlight as Far From the Madding Crowd opens in cinemas
The much anticipated Hollywood adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd opens in cinemas this weekend. The Visit Dorset Tourism team has been working with Lime Movies, the film’s promotional company and VisitEngland to highlight the fact that it was filmed right here in Hardy’s Wessex, showcasing the beautiful Dorset countryside to the world.
We have provided assistance with many national media enquiries and some of the articles can be found on our Dorset in the News page. Highlights include a fantastic feature in The Independent, which links to visit-dorset.com and our Exploring Hardy Country and Broadchurch trails. There are major features in The Telegraph and The Independent and we also helped with an article in Red Magazine, highlighting the ‘hot’ places to visit in 2015.
The film release is being promoted on the www.visit-dorset.com homepage, via our e-newsletter to a database of 60,000 people interested in visiting Dorset and we have ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ experiences being featured on the VisitEngland website.
We have already given away two tickets to the World Premiere in London in a joint promotion with Lime Movies via our visit-dorset Facebook page and our Facebook competition to win a short break at the Eastbury Hotel in Sherborne goes live on Friday, to coincide with the release of the film.
A Far From the Madding Crowd information leaflet will be available for distribution from TICs and to download on visit-dorset.com to highlight the filming locations and to help visitors explore the whole area. The Sherborne Visitor Guide has been refreshed and reprinted this week and includes information on the locations used in both this and other major film and TV productions in the town, such as The Imitation Game and Wolf Hall.
Dorset Residents’ Week Our fifth annual Dorset Residents’ Week took place from 20-26 April, giving people living across Dorset the chance to enjoy discount deals at over 50 of the county’s top attractions, including The Tank Museum, Mapperton Gardens, Highcliffe Castle, Swanage Railway, Moors Valley Country Park and Weymouth Sea Life. A copy of the four page colour supplement in the spring edition of Dorset County Council’s community newspaper ‘Your Dorset’ can be seen here.
We were once again delighted with the number of businesses that supported this very popular event and the weather was also very kind to us this year! The initiative, which was originally a West Dorset event, has grown year on year and is now an established event on the Dorset calendar.
I would be grateful if you could pass this information to your members.
Our best wishes for an enjoyable Bank Holiday Weekend – there are plenty of ideas for getting out and about in Dorset on the visit-dorset May Bank Holiday page.