Olympics in Weymouth and Portland (From Thisisdorset)

Get down & instantly double the crowd!

When Chesney sings "I am the one and only" - he'll be spot on!

Many thanks Jello, that made me smile.

I hope the sailing fraternity, and not the Council Tax-payer, pick up the tab for this fiasco.

Don't you worry, it's for a cause
Feeding global corporations' claws

How many of the people complaining / moaning on here have actually been down town. Its easy to get into. The Multi-Story, Debenhams and Commercial Road car parks are all open, and there are 500 cycling spaces in town. Many visitors have commented how easy and enjoyable cycling is here!

All the visitors and locals we have spoken to around the town are loving the Olympics and the great atmosphere in the town. There are very few complaints at all. They are saying Weymouth is well organised, efficient and a lovely place to be.

The Live Site was busy yesterday with cheering, clapping and a great atmosphere during the sailing, and has been at 15000 capacity on Friday and Saturday for the events there. The Stone Pier is open where you can watch all the sailing action for free and the Sports Arena has been really busy with people. Jimmy Carr at the Pavilion tonight is nearly a sell out.

There are loads of smaller events going on around the town and along the seafront as part of the Olympics/Maritime Mix/Cultural Olympiad, check out their relevant websites. It is a one off opportunity to get involved. Now it is here and happening, moaning will not help in any way, it will have the reverse effect. There are many, many first time visitors in the town, by giving them a good welcome and enjoyable experience they may return and spend their ££££. Not everything is perfect and mistakes have been made before the olympics and during them but get down town and see for yourself and support the town. Moaning at this stage will achieve nothing. In under 2 weeks it will be over.

A local businessman I know did some research before deciding whether to tender for an olympic contract. He couldn't find out much from China, but info. from Sydney was that the daily visitor numbers increased by no more than 4,000 during the sailing events there. LOCOG and local olympic planners seem to have expected far more than that. Add in the fact that most of the sailing fans that have come are up on The Nothe, and that a lot of the usual holidaymakers have steered well clear (having believed the hype?) and the result is that the town seems rather less crowded than it usually is at this time. It was noticeable that the beach was nearly full the week before the olympics started.

Yes it has to be said the town does seem quieter than usual at certain times of day, however the weather has also not been great, for example yesterday from 4pm it was very cold and windy on the seafront. Buses though have certainly been busier.

Some positive media about the number of town centre car parks etc that are open would help, and maybe, which I think is now happening less talk of delays etc on road signs.

However the visitors who are here - so many of them are first time visitors. This is apparent from numerous feedback. If we can get these people to come back again, some for example were very impressed with our annual events guide, maybe in the longer term there will be positives.

The town also looks great in places and imagery of this will be able to used well into the future in publicity.

People also seem to be really positive about the good organisation and the very good welcome they have received from volunteers, most businesses and the fantastic Pink ambassador team, who have contributed so much just from their welcomes and assistance with visitors, which has to be a great positive out of all of this.

jcrwey wrote:
How many of the people complaining / moaning on here have actually been down town. Its easy to get into. The Multi-Story, Debenhams and Commercial Road car parks are all open, and there are 500 cycling spaces in town. Many visitors have commented how easy and enjoyable cycling is here!

All the visitors and locals we have spoken to around the town are loving the Olympics and the great atmosphere in the town. There are very few complaints at all. They are saying Weymouth is well organised, efficient and a lovely place to be.

The Live Site was busy yesterday with cheering, clapping and a great atmosphere during the sailing, and has been at 15000 capacity on Friday and Saturday for the events there. The Stone Pier is open where you can watch all the sailing action for free and the Sports Arena has been really busy with people. Jimmy Carr at the Pavilion tonight is nearly a sell out.

There are loads of smaller events going on around the town and along the seafront as part of the Olympics/Maritime Mix/Cultural Olympiad, check out their relevant websites. It is a one off opportunity to get involved. Now it is here and happening, moaning will not help in any way, it will have the reverse effect. There are many, many first time visitors in the town, by giving them a good welcome and enjoyable experience they may return and spend their ££££. Not everything is perfect and mistakes have been made before the olympics and during them but get down town and see for yourself and support the town. Moaning at this stage will achieve nothing. In under 2 weeks it will be over.

Well said. I for one am loving the buzz about town and am fed up with the negativity shown by some comments above. Having watched the opening ceremony on TV I am proud of what has been achieved both in London, Weymouth and around other venues. Unfortunately I missed the battle of the winds but understand it was spectacular. Let us celebrate, for once, what this country does extremely well and especially Weymouth while we have this once in a lifetime opportunity.

I blame Danny Boyle - he's overstepped the mark with his recreation of 28 Days Later

is this a joke everytime i check the live beach live webcam its empty!!! Weymouth has made a joke about an event no one cares about. YEs host the olympics but to put us through all what we been through is disgusting and not necessary

No amount of optimism is going to change the fact that Weymouth has been decimated by road works for 18 months at a cost of £16m, local businesses of all kinds have had their livelihoods put at serious risk, and in the end hardly anyone (compared with the estimated 60,000+ per day) has turned up.
.
Regardless of wether people adopt the 'spirit of the dambusters' and go out and make the best of it, the Olympics for Weymouth and Portland has been a financial disaster for many.
.
The above is not moaning or negativity, it is simply stating the cold facts of the situation. It is simply the truth.
.
Time for everyone to admit that the Emperor is in the altogether.

Geese and Golden Eggs come to mind!

Geese and Golden Eggs come to mind!

ETV wrote:
No amount of optimism is going to change the fact that Weymouth has been decimated by road works for 18 months at a cost of £16m, local businesses of all kinds have had their livelihoods put at serious risk, and in the end hardly anyone (compared with the estimated 60,000+ per day) has turned up.
.
Regardless of wether people adopt the 'spirit of the dambusters' and go out and make the best of it, the Olympics for Weymouth and Portland has been a financial disaster for many.
.
The above is not moaning or negativity, it is simply stating the cold facts of the situation. It is simply the truth.
.
Time for everyone to admit that the Emperor is in the altogether.

I visited Weymouth by chance. I was going to visit Abbotsbury, saw how quiet the roads down to Weymouth were, and drove down to the town and ended up watching the Olympics on the beach. The problem that I see is when you bought tickets, there was nobody asking you how you were going to travel to the events anywhere, and people were told to use the trains (this would be great for me but my station was closed in 1966 and the lines ripped up). SouthWest trains then said they could not cope, use the roads (they had been given no idea of how many people with tickets lived near railway stations), and so in the end, nobody had a clue how anyone was really going to travel. That to me was the basic problem. Add to that the dramatic increases in prices of accommodation as people cashed in, newspaper reports everywhere seemingly making out how everybody was going to make a killing (out of people like me), and you have the potential for many people to be put off, particularly when you get stories about how little you can take in to the venue, and the cost of drinks and food in the venues once you have arrived on a scorching day with just 100mm of drink to see you through. The good thing is how great Weymouth and Portland look on television going out round the world. Those businesses that do not go bust now might yet make some money in years to come as foreign visitors trickle in to see the lovely empty place they saw during the sailing events. Fingers crossed.

davecook wrote:

ETV wrote:
No amount of optimism is going to change the fact that Weymouth has been decimated by road works for 18 months at a cost of £16m, local businesses of all kinds have had their livelihoods put at serious risk, and in the end hardly anyone (compared with the estimated 60,000+ per day) has turned up.
.
Regardless of wether people adopt the 'spirit of the dambusters' and go out and make the best of it, the Olympics for Weymouth and Portland has been a financial disaster for many.
.
The above is not moaning or negativity, it is simply stating the cold facts of the situation. It is simply the truth.
.
Time for everyone to admit that the Emperor is in the altogether.

I visited Weymouth by chance. I was going to visit Abbotsbury, saw how quiet the roads down to Weymouth were, and drove down to the town and ended up watching the Olympics on the beach. The problem that I see is when you bought tickets, there was nobody asking you how you were going to travel to the events anywhere, and people were told to use the trains (this would be great for me but my station was closed in 1966 and the lines ripped up). SouthWest trains then said they could not cope, use the roads (they had been given no idea of how many people with tickets lived near railway stations), and so in the end, nobody had a clue how anyone was really going to travel. That to me was the basic problem. Add to that the dramatic increases in prices of accommodation as people cashed in, newspaper reports everywhere seemingly making out how everybody was going to make a killing (out of people like me), and you have the potential for many people to be put off, particularly when you get stories about how little you can take in to the venue, and the cost of drinks and food in the venues once you have arrived on a scorching day with just 100mm of drink to see you through. The good thing is how great Weymouth and Portland look on television going out round the world. Those businesses that do not go bust now might yet make some money in years to come as foreign visitors trickle in to see the lovely empty place they saw during the sailing events. Fingers crossed.

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip Dave. The flaw, though, is that plenty of research has shown that the so called long tail effect - people visiting in future years - has been shown to be vastly overstated. And here is why. Can you name which town held the sailing events for the Sydney Olympics? How about the Beijing Olympics?

JamesYoung wrote:

davecook wrote:

ETV wrote:
No amount of optimism is going to change the fact that Weymouth has been decimated by road works for 18 months at a cost of £16m, local businesses of all kinds have had their livelihoods put at serious risk, and in the end hardly anyone (compared with the estimated 60,000+ per day) has turned up.
.
Regardless of wether people adopt the 'spirit of the dambusters' and go out and make the best of it, the Olympics for Weymouth and Portland has been a financial disaster for many.
.
The above is not moaning or negativity, it is simply stating the cold facts of the situation. It is simply the truth.
.
Time for everyone to admit that the Emperor is in the altogether.

I visited Weymouth by chance. I was going to visit Abbotsbury, saw how quiet the roads down to Weymouth were, and drove down to the town and ended up watching the Olympics on the beach. The problem that I see is when you bought tickets, there was nobody asking you how you were going to travel to the events anywhere, and people were told to use the trains (this would be great for me but my station was closed in 1966 and the lines ripped up). SouthWest trains then said they could not cope, use the roads (they had been given no idea of how many people with tickets lived near railway stations), and so in the end, nobody had a clue how anyone was really going to travel. That to me was the basic problem. Add to that the dramatic increases in prices of accommodation as people cashed in, newspaper reports everywhere seemingly making out how everybody was going to make a killing (out of people like me), and you have the potential for many people to be put off, particularly when you get stories about how little you can take in to the venue, and the cost of drinks and food in the venues once you have arrived on a scorching day with just 100mm of drink to see you through. The good thing is how great Weymouth and Portland look on television going out round the world. Those businesses that do not go bust now might yet make some money in years to come as foreign visitors trickle in to see the lovely empty place they saw during the sailing events. Fingers crossed.

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip Dave. The flaw, though, is that plenty of research has shown that the so called long tail effect - people visiting in future years - has been shown to be vastly overstated. And here is why. Can you name which town held the sailing events for the Sydney Olympics? How about the Beijing Olympics?

Beijing, Qingdao Bay

Sydney, Rushcutters Bay

And to help feed your obsession more, the full list is here!

http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/List_of_Oly
mpic_venues_in_saili
ng