Visiting cruise ship passengers each spend on average just over £44 in the island.

The figure was given by the Department for Enterprise which had initially declined to do so following a Freedom of Information request last year.

But the individual who made the request asked for a review of that decision, arguing that it was in the public interest to release the information.

And now following an internal review, the department agreed that the figure should be released, and accepted that no public harm will result in providing this information.

It said the figure was contained in a Deloitte report on the development of an Isle of Man cruise ship deep water berth which was submitted to the department in July 2017.

That report states: ’We have calculated an average of £44.48 as the average passenger gross spend in the economy per head’.

Deloitte arrived at that figure by obtaining the average passenger gross spends from a number of reports, including historic Isle of Man figures and other comparable islands.

When the department turned down the FoI request last November it said the report had not yet been published as the department and government requires more time to consider the report.

It said it was aiming to release the report by the end of 2017.

The department also attached a cruise passenger survey report from 2013.

That year 14 cruise ships came to the island, carrying 6,036 passengers and 3,817 crew who collectively spent almost £200,000 here .

A further £40,000 was spent directly by the cruise lines on provisions, harbour fees and charges, bringing total expenditure to around £240,000. Last year, 28 cruise ships were scheduled to visit the island, bringing 9,756 passengers.