The total number of people visiting the Isle of Man dropped by 8.7 per cent in 2017.

That’s according to the Passenger Survey which is published by the Cabinet Office.

It showed that 266,850 people visited the Island.

The number of non-business visitors staying in paid accommodation also decreased by 3.6 per cent to 129,860.

Despite the drop the total expenditure by visitors to the Island increased by 5.6 per cent to ?112.6 million.

Average visitor spend increased by 23.4 per cent to ?448.

Total scheduled passenger departures increased over the year to 687,981 compared with 675,048 in 2016.