The return of ITV’s award winning drama Broadchurch has put Dorset firmly back in the media spotlight. With West Bay taking centre stage once more the Visit Dorset Tourism Partnership are making the most of this opportunity to promote the Broadchurch filming locations to the millions of fans of the series.
The visit-dorset.com website saw a significant rise in traffic following the first episode with many people searching for information on where the series was filmed. The website saw an increase of traffic of 133% when the first episode was aired on our screens on 27 February compared to the same period the previous year. The website has continued to see a steady rise in traffic since the final series began with Mondays seeing significant spike.
As well as a dedicated Broadchurch page on the website, Visit Dorset are running a high profile social media campaign for the duration of the series alongside a competition to win a holiday for up to 6 people at Highlands End Holiday Park and an ultimate Broadchurch Tour. The tourism team have worked with two of their members, West Dorset Leisure Holidays and Jurassic Coast Guides, to offer this prize and encourage people to visit Dorset.
The increase in interest in Dorset is also being seen by local tourism businesses. John Waterworth, chief executive at Parkdean Resorts, said: “Since the return of popular ITV series Broadchurch we have seen over a 10% increase in bookings for breaks to our three holiday parks in Dorset. Our West Bay park in Bridport has proven increasingly popular thanks to its location being so close to the stunning cliffs along the Jurassic Coast, which provide the memorable setting for the series.
“Living in the UK we are very lucky to be surrounded by many striking landscapes and iconic landmarks, and it’s great to have TV series including Broadchurch highlighting these for millions of people to see, helping to encourage tourism”.
Nick Thornley, on behalf of the Visit Dorset Tourism Partnership, said “Broadchurch represents a unique opportunity for Dorset’s fantastic Jurassic coastline to gain national and international media coverage and once again the series is generating a large amount of interest in the area.”
This high profile TV publicity is ensuring Visit Dorset’s web visitors, social media fans and followers keep on growing at a fast pace – telling the world what a fabulous place Dorset is to visit at any time of year.
