The Department of Economic Development has responded to the latest Isle of Man Passenger Survey that was published today which revealed an overall increase in visitors of 1.7% and a continued increasing trend in the number of leisure visitors (Period Visitors in Paid Accommodation) to the Island. The survey showed that this segment of visitor has increased by nearly 40% since 2008.

Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for the Department of Economic Development, commented:

‘The figures indicate that it has been another encouraging year for tourism in the Isle of Man with the number of visitors in 2016 increasing by 1.7% to 292,328, compared to 2015. We are seeing an overall trend of growth in visitor numbers since 2014. The number of business visitors to the Island has also grown for the third year running, an indicator of recovery in this important market and the overall state of the Manx economy.

‘The slight drop in visitor spend is disappointing but the survey shows this to be the result of a decrease in on-Island spend, as opposed to spend with our local accommodation providers which saw a healthy increase of 11%, with spend on travel costs remaining fairly static.

‘Sustaining sea and air routes is fundamental in growing both tourism and the visitor economy for the Island The Passenger Survey is invaluable in highlighting the travel patterns and spend of different visitor segments to the Island.

Rob Callister MHK, Department Member with responsibility for Tourism and the Visitor Economy, outlined the actions that the Department would take in response to the survey’s findings:

‘We will continue to implement our Destination Management Plan with a specific aim of targeting the higher spending visitor and family market. In looking to address the slight fall in on-Island spend we will work with the industry to determine how best we can maximise potential on-Island spend by visitors and also look at ways to extend the season further.

‘As a Department we continue to work to grow the Isle of Man’s economy, in turn creating an increase in demand for travel, while maintaining our partnership with the Department of Infrastructure to sustain capacity and frequency of both key leisure and business routes.’

The survey is available at http://www.gov.im/categories/travel-traffic-and-motoring/passenger-survey/ while paper copies can be obtained from the Tynwald Library.