The Nothe Fort team are celebrating a record number of visitors for 2024, as we welcomed our 100,000 visitor on the last day of the season!
Nothe Fort Chairman, James Farquharson, was on hand to welcome Matt and his family – local residents who regularly visit using their annual pass. On hearing the exciting news, they said:
“We were really lucky to be the 100,000th visitor and had a great time being treated like VIPs! Nothe Fort has always been one of our favourite places. There are so many interesting rooms, and we love the tunnels. There’s always something different going on. We will be back soon!”
Nothe Fort Chairman James wanted to celebrate the volunteers and staff for their hard work in achieving this target.
“We focus on what our visitors want, which helps us create a museum experience they enjoy. That and making sure our team has lots of fun builds a great atmosphere that leads to success.
Growing our visitor numbers each year means we have the money needed to look after Nothe Fort and hand it over to future generations in a better condition than when we took over custodianship.
It’s been an amazing journey, from Weymouth Civic Society signing a lease for the site in the late 1970s through to today when we are firmly established as one of Weymouth’s must-see attractions.”
Another critical success factor in our 12% increase in visitors is from strengthening Nothe Fort’s partnerships.
In 2024, we worked in partnership with Weymouth Town Council to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day with a large-scale event and exhibition, and also worked with We Are Weymouth (Weymouth BID) on their Pirate Weekend, Elf Weekend, and the Steampunk Christmas Market.
We aim to continue exploring and cultivating local partnerships that fortify the local tourism sector and bring new opportunities to the Fort.
Cause for Celebration!
2024 has been an exciting year full of celebrations, with Nothe Fort winning a record number of awards, including Gold in the Small Visitor Attraction category for Dorset Tourism Awards, South West Tourism Award and Visit England Tourism Awards. Winning these awards has created a positive buzz and raised the profile of Nothe Fort regionally and nationally, which has helped to increase our visitor numbers, and let us round off a successful year by being Commended in the Large Visitor Attraction category of the Dorset Tourism Awards.
Another facet of this year’s accomplishments came from our commitment to offering value for visitors.
Nothe Fort worked hard to keep the price of our annual pass as low as possible and added value by offering an engaging and vibrant events programme of family activities during the school holidays.
So what’s next?
We are now closed to the public until 15th February 2025, but until then, we shall be busy with building improvements and creating new displays for next season. We want to thank everyone who contributed to our successes this year, including the work of our dedicated staff and volunteers. We hope they will continue to join in our endeavours building the profile of Nothe Fort as an excellent visitor attraction, and we can’t wait to reveal what we have planned for 2025…
Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!
