This week’s Manx Independent reports on an ambitious goal to attract more tourists to the island.

Tourism chiefs hope to lure 500,000 a year by 2030.

We report on what it means.

Also on page one, a court story about a prolific conman who left a trail of despair in his wake after targeting people in the island.

In addition:

A couple from the Isle of Man tell us what happened to them when their Bulgarian hotel caught fire.

The latest on Ramsey marina.

A man who was accused of driving on closed roads has won his court case.

A candidate for Legislative Council is appalled at the level of racism she says she has encountered in the Isle of Man.

Meet two children from Castletown who are allergic to sunshine.

Could coronavirus have an impact on the TT? Government chiefs are drawing up strategies.

Young mother Chloe Nelson of Douglas, who was convicted of ecstasy and cannabis offences, has had a jail term increased on appeal.

A pub customer who got into a dance floor brawl with a woman dressed as the Virgin Mary appeared in court this week.

A campaign to get painless monitors for type-1 diabetics on prescription in the island has succeeded.

A Douglas couple will cycle 500km across Malawi in aid of an African-based charity that is close to their hearts. We find out more.

Adults and children took on the island’s only remaining public pancake race at Maughold on Shrove Tuesday. We went and took lots of photos.

There’s anger in the north of the island over changes to bus timetables. We hear from a number of residents.

The steam engine Caledonia is to return to the site of the Knockaloe internment camp near Peel after a century away.

An island-based animation studio will have its work premiered on BBC television next week.

Pensioner Keith Lawrence Fearnley of Douglas, whose van was involved in a collision with a bus in a drink-drive incident, has been sentenced.

The Star of India, the world’s oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still afloat, which was built in Ramsey, has returned to the waters after an overhaul in the USA.

In one of our political stories, the Chief Minister attributes Tynwald ’working together’ as the biggest success of the Quayle administration.

It might seem a long way off, but preparations are now in hand for the Royal Agricultural Show. Julie Blackburn finds out more for our Food and Farming pages.

The One-Act Festival starts next week and promises to be a treat for theatre lovers. It’s the lead story in our Island Life section.

Our arts and entertainment pages also include a look at a carnival celebration of different cultures in the Isle of Man.

The lead sports story is about a new organisation established to give local sportsmen and women the opportunity to enter off-island team competitions and leagues.

There are 12 pages of sport in all.

The Manx Independent also has your letters, the Isle of Man’s What’s On guide, a page of puzzles, a page of pictures from the past, readers’ photos, a seven-day television guide and lots of community news.

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