Tourism chiefs are predicting the number of hotel bedrooms in the island to have increased by a quarter in three years.

Enterprise Minister Laurence Skelly (pictured) told Tynwald on Tuesday: ’According to our records, there were 900 hotel rooms and 866 bedrooms and self-catering properties registered in 2016.

’Based on the assumption that no currently registered properties leave the stock, we estimate by September 2019, 1,138 hotel rooms and 925 self-catering bedrooms will be registered.

’This is an increase of around 26% in the number of hotel rooms and approximately a 7% increase in the number of self-catering bedrooms since 2016.’

Mr Skelly was responding to questions from Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew), who wanted to know if there was a particular reason for the increases.

The minister put it down to the ’good work of not just the department (for Enterprise) but the industry working together to build the profile and the marketing of the Isle of Man in terms of a tourist destination’.