THE Daily Echo has a million reasons to celebrate after our website reached a historic milestone.

Our site attracted visits from more than a million unique browsers in January alone.

The total number of page views at bournemouthecho.co.uk reached an astonishing 9.7 million and to celebrate, local VIPs joined staff on the roof to take an historic photograph using the latest technology - a drone.

Vincent Boni, Managing Director of Newsquest Dorset, said: “I hope that our readers and businesses are staggered by the one million unique visitors and almost 10 million page impressions that the Bournemouth Echo delivered in just one month.

“This is a historic milestone in our publishing history and we are all grateful for the continued support of the local audience.”

Toby Granville, group editor at the Daily Echo, said: “Thanks a million to all 1,088,066 visitors to the Bournemouth Echo website in January who made it a record month.

"Our combined readership is now the highest it's been for nearly 20 years so clearly, thanks to our hard-working team of journalists, we are providing our army of readers with exactly the news and information they want.

“And our coverage is only going to get even better so keep reading and here's to our next million!”

A gathering of VIPs saluted the achievement yesterday at the Echo's Richmond Hill HQ.

The mayor of Poole, Cllr Peter Adams, said: “It's good to see our local paper takes digital communication so seriously, which is the future of communications.”

Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: “For the Echo to get over a million unique browsers in January is an amazing start to the year.

“That's first and foremost a major vote of confidence in the Bournemouth Echo by its readers, both online and in hard copy.”

Andrew Diprose, joint managing director of Bournemouth-based Deep South Media, said: “It's a brilliant achievement. I think the Echo leads the way in terms of its website presence.”

Ian Girling, chief executive of Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “I think the success of the paper online is absolutely tremendous. What a great story.”

Andrew Wickham, managing director of Morebus - whose buses are equipped with free wifi and charging points - said: “The next million will be a lot quicker than the first one.”