Since West Dorset already had Dorchester, Sherborne, Bridport and Lyme Regis on a networked CTV destination management system, the district council decided to close the loop by opening a new visitor centre at West Bay.

With that in mind, the district council undertook the West Bay Enhancement Project, a carefully worked-out programme of landscaping and reorganising, with new roads and car parks.
The old Railway Station Building was refurbished, and now forms a smart and attractive Visitor Centre, fitted - of course - with the latest in CTV technology.

"We are already finding the VisitIT electronic eye and people-counting software in the main entrance of tremendous help," says manager Lorraine Knowles. "We need to know when the visitor peaks and troughs occur, so that we can keep the right number of staff on hand to deal with them.

"VisitIT not only frees the member of staff who used to have to head-count with a hand-held clicker, but also shows the visitor pattern accurately and at a glance from our print-outs."

Many of the visitors learned of the beauties of West Bay by 'phoning the main Tourist Information Centre at Dorchester, where the TIM market response module - a brochure fulfilment package - has been sending out tens of thousands of copies of the West Dorset Holiday Guide since the popular series began.

As a result, the Old Railway Station - where passers-by are drawn in by the Harbour Lights display, complete with pictures of star Nick Berry - sees a big demand for information on the other local attractions.

Their queries are easily dealt with on the TIM destination management systems, which documents local and national events and attractions, with its integral automated booking service - although sadly, meeting Nick Berry is not an option, even through CTV