Fed-up tourism businesses are in a ’state of suspended animation’ over the future of their livelihoods, says a leading figure in the industry.

Ged Power, a member of the government’s Visit Isle of Man agency, said it’s a ’frustrating situation’ at the moment and added that as a business operator himself, this year is in danger of being ’written off’.

He said: ’The uncertainty, even for a small business like mine, means accepting inquiries from people who are desperate to come to the Isle of Man to play golf.

’And you can only respond with the message of ’’it may happen, it may not’’ because there are no dates set in stone .

’So eventually the leads drop off and golf resorts in the UK benefit and the island misses out.’

Mr Power referred to the speculation that there could be a four-week delay in the UK before restrictions go and not on June 21 as planned.

Meanwhile the Isle of Man has indicated June 28 could be the day when restrictions end. But now that is in question too.

The man who runs Isle of Man Golf Tours and also runs his own private hire business said: ’I’ve got golfers primed and ready to visit the Isle of Man in July - hotel bookings in the pipeline, tee-times prepared and transport sorted and the problems do not just affect my operation.

’It is not just affecting me as tourism partners across the Isle of Man will be going through this same process.

’But are we actually damaging relationships with potential customers. As well as the obvious economic factors.’

Mr Power said he had been inundated with inquiries ’and that is without doing any marketing. I have to say there is no point in me spending resources and time in advertising when I have not got a true date to work with’.

’I’ve not engaged in any marketing campaigns, normally you would have a budget set aside for advertising with publications and digital media. You could say we are in a state of suspended animation.’

Mr Power said the ripples were being felt right across the Isle of Man ’and I think that with the fact that Wembley Stadium on Sunday was going to have 40,000 people in (for the Euro championships soccer match between England and Croatia) you have to ask the question why the Isle of Man can’t accept thousands of visitors, which I think is a valid point.’

Mr Power added: ’What is disappointing is the lack of communication, that in the past few weeks we have had no political statement saying exactly what is the rationale at the moment, what is the plan, what are they waiting for and how important are the actions of Boris Johnson?’

He backed up his statement by referring to the plea by hospitality businesses made in the island last Thursday. They hit out at what they see as a lack of support from the government for the troubled industry.

Mr Power has been a member of the Visit Agency, an offshoot of the Department for Enterprise, since its inception.

He said that ’for me as a business operator this year it is looking as if this year is written off. Anything you do get is a bonus.’

Mr Power said the air bridges that operated between the island and Guernsey during the crisis had been a ’lovely respite from the misery’.

He spoke to the Examiner on what would have been Senior Race Day in normal times.

impact

And he said he believed that while the economic impact of the TT was ’significant’ in terms of volume he claimed that ’we have to be more intelligent, more brave, more bold, in strengthening tourism in the future’.

He said that in his opinion making the island attractive to bringing groups to the island was vital. These were ’people who will spend lots of money quickly and benefit the economy’.

He added: ’Everybody knows that the weekend break in places such as Prague captured thousands of UK revellers - ’that quick business where people are looking for a blowout for a weekend on low cost entertainment and beer.

’We need to bring them to the island in a post-Covid, almost VE Day vibe and we have got to be clever about this.

’Why not have the boat travel heavily subsidised before 2022, why not have local produced beer heavily subsidised so we could be selling it at something like £2 a pint.

’We need to turbo-boost our economy, we need to be bold and it is not about people wandering around in anoraks admiring the scenery.’

Mr Power spoke of his hopes that a ’tourism and entertainment zone’ could be boosted on South Quay, Douglas.

He said: ’We also have to accept that the retail landscape has changed and nobody wants to see empty shops in Strand Street. So we could have a combination of hotel accommodation there or appropriate town housing but keep the developers under strict control, that these cannot be properties constructed for rental or investment purposes.

’Let’s get people in the town and then they will have disposable income. They will be young people with the entertainment sector on their doorstep.

’It sounds a bit grand but in my opinion it makes sense.

’For me it’s an absolute open goal.’