Weymouth and Portland welcomed in the Games on Friday with more than 11,000 people watching Danny Boyle’s spectacular opening ceremony on Weymouth beach. Saturday saw a spectacular finale to the Battle for the Winds performance, with 2,012 people wading into the sea with flaming torches.
The sailing events got under way on Sunday with the sold out Nothe venue cheering on Ben Ainslie and the rest of Team GB. Beyond the ticketed venue, all the events are being screened at the free live site on Weymouth beach and a wide variety of activities and entertainment are on offer for all the family.
Weymouth and Portland and the spectacular Dorset coastline have received an unprecedented level of global media coverage and Weymouth was trending on Twitter as the sixth most mentioned word on Sunday 29 July. With the Olympic medal races still to begin, more visitors are expected to arrive to enjoy a unique seaside experience.
So far, transport arrangements including the road network, public transport links and park and ride facilities have been working smoothly to bring people to the Games.
Notes to editors
Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, Dorset County Council and key partners have been running a long-term proactive campaign to encourage people to come to Weymouth and Portland for the Games. A dedicated website has been set up to promote the Games at www.dorsetforyou.com/sailing2012. Information has also been made available on both visit-dorset.com and visitweymouth websites. Dedicated social media sites, including twitter @sailing_2012, were also launched to generate interest in Games time activity.
Detailed guides to the Games were also included in Dorset County Council’s Your Dorset publication, which is sent to every home in the shire county of Dorset, and in a special ‘Olympic’ edition of Weymouth & Portland Borough Council’s Insight magazine, which is sent to every home in Weymouth & Portland. A guide to the Games was also included in West Dorset District Council’s publication, Community Link, which is sent to every home and business in West Dorset.
Information was also put into traditional holiday guides across the county and a special ‘Summer to Remember’ leaflet promoting all that Weymouth & Portland has to offer during Games time was published and circulated.
A long-term media campaign was also launched to promote the sailing events and other associated local events to the local, national and international media – TV, radio and print. Approximately 350 local, national and international journalists have registered with the Dorset Media Centre to cover the Games.
Transport partners have put out messages to reassure people that there are currently no delays coming into Weymouth and Portland and to inform people about the array of events on offer in the borough.
Press releases have been issued and today alone (Monday 30 July) our operations team has conducted Interviews on this issue with National BBC news, BBC South, ITV news, Radio Solent, Wessex FM, BBC Devon, BBC Yorkshire.
Weymouth was trending on Twitter as sixth most mentioned word in the UK yesterday (Sunday 29 July).
The council is continuing to issue daily press releases and e-newsletters highlighting everything that is going on in Weymouth & Portland during Games time – see http://news.dorsetforyou.com/
This has all led to unprecedented coverage for the borough, especially on national and local television.