About Us
Discover Dorchester is the official website for Dorchester created by the Dorchester Tourism Partnership. The partnership was formed in 2020 and comprises of Dorchester Town Council, Dorchester BID, Dorchester Chamber of Commerce, Visit Dorset and representatives from Dorchester’s accommodation providers, attractions and food and drink outlets.
We all work together on different projects to promote Dorchester as a place to visit and develop new tourism opportunities too, especially ones that celebrate our amazing local heritage. We work to a strategy which can be found on the Dorchester Town Council website, along with notes from our meetings.
The Dorchester Tourism Partnership meet every three months and work together to try and increase tourism in Dorchester. The current chair of Dorchester Tourism Partnership is Kirsty Schmidt from The Kings Arms. Previous Chairs include Directors of Dorset Museum and Shire Hall Museum.
Restaurants, museums, attractions, hotels, landowners, tour guides, local media, BID, Chamber of Commerce, council officers, Councillors and more are all represented on the Dorchester Tourism partnership to ensure that the work is industry led and in touch with the situation on the ground in Dorchester.
Matilda Manley, Dorchester Tourism Development Officer, is employed by Dorchester Town Council and is the lead Officer delivering the work of the Dorchester Tourism Partnership.
The work of the Dorchester Tourism Partnership is steered by the Dorchester Heritage Tourism Committee which was created by the Dorchester Joint Heritage Committee. The Dorchester Tourism Partnership work together to plan and deliver campaigns and projects that help to ensure that tourists feel welcomed when they arrive in Dorchester, have access to information they require and have an enjoyable experience here. The campaigns and projects also work to attract more visitors to Dorchester and raise the profile of our wonderful historic town.
If you would like to find out more about the Dorchester Tourism Partnership or would be interested in joining the partnership please contact us using the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Dorchester Tourism Partnership Documents:
Meeting notes:
- 7 July 2026
- 31 March 2026
- 13 January 2026
- 30 September 2025
- 8 July 2025
- 1 April 2025
- 7 January 2025
- 1 October 2024
- Marketing Plan: