The latest passengers figures from the government appear to be good news.

They show that there was an increase in overall visitors last year of 1.7 per cent.

It also revealed a continued increasing trend in the number of leisure visitors (or ’period visitors in paid accommodation’) to the island. The survey showed that this segment of visitor has increased by nearly 40 per cent since 2008.

Economic Development Minsiter Laurence Skelly MHK said: ’The figures indicate that it has been another encouraging year for tourism in the Isle of Man. 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 per cent, 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, the politician with responsibility for tourism, said: ’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 annual survey provides information on levels of passenger traffic to and from the Island by sea and by air, and includes business travellers as well as tourists and local residents.

The full report gives a more detailed breakdown of these figures and provides additional data, including estimates of the expenditure, length of stay and area of residence of visitors.

Key Points

The number of non-business visitors staying in paid accommodation (tourists) remained similar to 2015, rising slightly to 134,674.

Total scheduled passenger departures increased over the year, to 675,052 in 2016 compared to 663,465 in 2015.

The total number of visitors including business and non-business during 2016 increased by 1.7 per cent to 292,331.

The average length of stay of visitors to the island (including business visitors) was estimated at 5.0 nights, which is reduction compared with 2015, at 5.5 nights.

Estimated total expenditure by visitors to the Island during 2016 was £106.6m, and on average visitors spent £363 per visit.

http://www.gov.im/categories/travel-traffic-and-motoring/passenger-survey/