Tourism businesses underwent a crash course to maximise Olympic opportunities with top tips on how to welcome this summer’s influx of international visitors.

The first in a series of free workshops, entitled Making the Most of 2012, attracted 38 delegates and eight speakers and guests to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.

Hoteliers, guesthouse owners, taxi drivers, coach companies, landlords, holiday park and campsite owners were among those urged to ‘grasp the opportunity’ being offered by this summer’s Olympic Sailing events with an expected 60,000 visitors a day to the borough.

Borough council regeneration and tourism officer Jacqui Gisborne, who was part of the Back the Bid campaign in 2004, said the first call the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) made was to Sydney. They asked the successful Olympic venue ‘What would you do differently?’ The answer was: ‘We’d plan for longer.’ Jacqui said: “The planning for the delivery of this operation is nothing of the scale this town has ever seen before, or will probably see again. We’ve got one chance to get it right.

“What’s happening here in this area – the visitor experience with the free Live Screen on the beach, the ticketed area at the Nothe – has never happened at any previous Olympic sailing event.

“Rio 2016 had to identify a ticketed area for sailing – it’s a sport that’s actually growing.

“Yet it’s breaking ground here, we’re going to be the first.”

While accredited media will be reporting on the sport from the sailing academy, non-accredited media will be accommodated in Weymouth Pavilion and three media viewing platforms will be set up along the seafront.

Jacqui said: “We’re producing B-roll footage free for the media showing everything great about Dorset, including Thomas Hardy country, Portland stone, Athel-hampton House and the Jurassic Coast.

“BBC Motion Gallery won the contract, they produce Coast so they’ve got all the Coast footage – I’ve seen the first cut and it looks fantastic.”

Workshop attendees were reassured that Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour would not be closed during the two-week Olympic Games although the race course areas would be subject to restrictions from 12pm until 6pm daily.

Jacqui added: “We’re trying to work with as many people as we can and accommodate as many boats as we can.

“Any boat coming in has to be pre-booked.”

David Dann, who presented the workshops on behalf of the Dorset and New Forest Training Partnership, said: “Dorset is already a tourist destination but what we’re not used to is so many people from so many different countries visiting all at the same time.”

Tourism representatives said they were impressed with the ‘enthusiasm’ of the speakers.

Chris Reay, of The Channel Guest House in Weymouth, said: “Eight out of our 12 letting bedrooms are already booked out for the Olympic period. We’ve got people coming from Mexico, Thailand, Sweden, Italy and Tenerife.

“We’re a family business and we decided not to put our prices up for the Olympics, we don’t want to profiteer – we want people to come back.”

workshops

FREE Making the Most of 2012 workshops will be taking place across the county.

• February 8 – Poole Yacht Club, 10am to 1.30pm.

• February 23 – Weymouth College, 10am to 1.30pm.

• February 29 – Highlands End Holiday Park, Eype, 1.30pm to 5pm.

• March 8 – Orangery Suite, Wimborne, 1.30pm to 5pm.

• March 14 - Brownswords, Dorchester, 1.30pm to 5pm.

• March 22 – Weymouth College, 1.30pm to 5pm.

• May 1, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, 10am to 1.30pm.

• Choose the time and location that best suits you from the above list and email dnftp@bournemouth.gov.uk or call 01202 451151 to reserve your place. Visit dorsetnewforest.org