Business leaders sang the praises of Weymouth at a major trade show in London.

The town was promoted as an all-year-round family destination at the Excursions: Group Travel Trade Exhibition held at the Alexandra Palace in London at the weekend.

The event showcases days out, short breaks and longer group holidays across the UK and overseas.

A team from the Weymouth Business Improvement District (BID) travelled to the show to promote the town as part of its ‘We Are Weymouth’ mission, a new branding for the resort. Together with Abbotsbury Tourism, Bovington Tank Museum and supported by the Sea Life Adventure Park, the group set up the We Are Weymouth stand to showcase the town and encourage more visitors.

The idea is to celebrate all the activities Weymouth has to offer and encourage everyone to visit the town including fishermen, divers, walkers, cyclists and families.

The strategy is part of a wider BID business plan to attract more visitors, and it was decided amongst the group that one of the ways to do this was to attend more trade shows.

Last September a group went to a trade show in Birmingham.

Brochures were handed out to those at the London trade show and the work the team is doing outside the area will be bolstered by an advertising campaign in regional media, including adverts in Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol and West Quay shopping centre in Southampton.

This will include a competition showcasing ‘15 great reasons to visit Weymouth in 2015’ and there will be prizes on offer from local town traders.

A spokesman for the BID said the London trade show had gone ‘very well’ and they were pleased with the response from those at the show.

The spokesman said: “It’s going out of the area and showing people what Weymouth has to offer.”

The spokesman added that businesses were seeing a benefit by joining forces with the BID and sponsoring prizes.

The spokesman said: “This is showing now how businesses are getting on board with the BID, because they can see it’s got a benefit to their business.”