Visitors to Dorset are being asked to value the county’s unique environment, its often-perilous coastline and its residents through a new multimedia campaign called Promise to Love Dorset, which launches today, 21 July.
Numbers of visitors are predicted to be at record levels again this summer as international travel is still uncertain. In response to some of the behaviours of visitors that residents saw last year, Dorset Council has produced a series of videos, each featuring a different ‘promise’ to encourage responsible and sustainable tourism.
‘Promise to Love Dorset’, features five short videos and a range of accompanying graphics for social media and is based on evidence which suggests people’s behaviour can be changed through positive reinforcement rather than telling people off or shaming them.
Anti-social behaviour was reported last summer at a number of Dorset’s popular destinations. Incidents like fires caused by disposable BBQs, copious amounts of littering on our beaches, illegal camping and discarded tents and vehicles parked inconsiderately and dangerously were all of concern to Dorset’s residents. Balancing the needs of the economy with the fragility of Dorset’s unique environment has never been so challenging.
Cllr Noc Lacey-Clarke, Dorset Council’s Lead Member for recovery, said:
“We’ve worked hard with our partners to make sure the tone of this campaign is appropriate for would-be visitors and has the desired outcome of changing behaviours. ‘Promise to Love Dorset’ is based on evidence which shows us that the audiences we’re targeting are the right ones.
“The figures we have been seeing since Easter indicates that many people are planning to holiday in Dorset over the summer and will understandably want to enjoy the outdoors.
“We’re asking people when they are here in Dorset to act responsibly and respect our county – enjoy our beautiful places but leave no trace. They can do this by planning and preparing in advance for their visit. Visitors should be considerate towards our residents by ensuring cars are parked safely and do not obstruct people’s homes or the emergency services.”
The campaign is hosted on the council’s destination management website, ‘Visit-Dorset.com’ and the council’s landowning partners who also experienced poor behaviours from visitors – like the National Trust, Forestry England and RSPB – are backing the campaign.
Phil Sterling, Chair of Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership Board said:
“I am really pleased to see this positive and upbeat campaign being launched today. There has been a huge amount of hard work behind the scenes to get to this stage and Dorset AONB is proud to have been a part of it. We hope the campaign will help influence and change visitor behaviour by encouraging people to think carefully about how they treat our precious landscapes, so that everyone can enjoy the natural beauty of Dorset.”
Through targeted digital marketing, visitors to Dorset from across the UK will see the campaign, and the click through results so far are very encouraging with more than a million people reached already and over 90,000 interactions. This figure is expected to increase significantly with the release of the videos today.
Stunning pictures in the Summer visitor campaign. Thank you and I hope they do their job. 🙂