'Fully self-sustaining': Dorset council boosts tourism with Derby booking system

Dorset mayor Greg Howard said the Blue Derby booking platform would funnel revenue back into Derby's mountain-bike trail costs rather than to Airbnbs.

"The commissions from Airbnb go not only out of Tasmania, but they go out of Australia," Cr Howard said.

"So, the idea is that the commissions from our booking platform will stay within Dorset to fully fund the trail maintenance."

Although only small, the town hosts one of the largest trail networks in the country and with more than 50,000 visitors a year has become a boon for the region.

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But with high trail maintenance costs - which Cr Howard said could cost hundreds of thousands per year - the goal was to take the burden off ratepayers.

Dorset Council general manager Tim Watson said short-stay providers had been crucial to building tourism in the region.

"Airbnb has been good for Derby, but from our perspective, it's better the commissions go back to the trails and not a multinational because they don't spend any money in Derby," he said.

"We only have 6500 residents and we have a limited rate price, so we knew from the outset we had to find a way to make this self-sustaining because we don't have the financial capacity to fund such a large network".

From July 1, accommodation providers in the town can sign up for the council-run booking system through the Blue Derby website.

Cr Howard said the system would be supported through a remission scheme that would remit a set council charge against commissions for any booking made on the platform.

"If businesses book at least 60 nights, they will be no worse off than the rest of the Airbnbs in the municipality," he said.

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Derby General Store owner Chris Cafe said listing with Airbnb was still where the majority of their bookings were made, but he expected this to change quickly as more businesses caught on.

"We pay about a 15 per cent commission from every booking that goes straight to Airbnb, which is a significant amount of money and that all obviously goes overseas to the US," Mr Cafe said.

"It's a no-brainer for me that if I can get bookings through another platform and the commission goes back into Derby, why wouldn't I list with it"?

Mr Cafe said with a council charge on businesses already contributing to trail maintenance, he saw it as a necessary way of ensuring the success of the town.

"I think it's fair because I think if you are an accommodation provider in Derby, you are making very good money off the back of what the council and the community has done," he said.

He said the idea was based on models used in other tourism dependent regions with small populations. But Mr Cafe said the main difference for Derby was how the funds were independently audited and put back into the town rather than council.

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For Derby Lodge owner Ben Jones, building the region's trails up to a world-class standard has been a community investment that he's glad to see a return on.

"Rather than international businesses taking cuts of people visiting, because of everyone's hard work, the money should be going back into the trails rather than companies," Mr Jones said.

Mr Watson said despite the enthusiasm from businesses, it couldn't come at the expense of short-stay options for the area.

"With Derby, we've been conscious that the housing stock has been converted to short term accommodation - you don't want a town that's just a purely transient population," he said.

"But without extremely well maintained trials, you don't get the repeat visitation, and without repeat visitation, your own accommodation providers aren't sustainable".

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