The government has no specific data on the economic value of horse trams, Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer has admitted.

In Tynwald on Tuesday he was questioned on their contribution to the economy.

Mr Harmer said the department had ’not undertaken a bespoke assessment’ of the value of the horse trams.

However in 2011 - before the government took over the horse trams - an assessment of the impact of heritage railways on the economy found that they contributed £12 million to the island’s GDP.

A further survey was carried out in 2018, he said, which found that the heritage railways were worth between £4.5 million and £22 million in terms of tourism spend.

’While the report did not consider the value of individual railways it did assess the possible impact of removing heritage railways on the total visitor numbers,’ he said.

’The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway was excluded from this element of the study as the consultants assumed that, given its passenger numbers and limited coverage, its removal will not impact the total visitor numbers to the Isle of Man.’

But he added the report said the service played an important role in ’linking services’.

He was responding to a question from Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) who said he had not asked for the overall contribution of heritage railways, but the specific contribution of the horse trams.

Mr Hooper said the Minister had ’snuck in’ the fact that there was no actual figure.

Mr Harmer said it was important to realise the ’heritage railways operate as one’.

In a previous House of Keys answer, Mr Harmer revealed the costs for running the horse trams last year came to £412,527, against income of £152,224, a net shortfall of £260,303.

Earlier in last week’s sitting, Mr Harmer repeated his department’s argument that the horse tram service did not cause extra congestion during the TT.

He quoted the findings of a survey first reported last year, that horse trams did not slow down traffic and that badly parked cars were the main problem.

Only a small portion of the horse tram track, from Strathallan to Little Switzerland, is due to be in operation this year, due to the promenade redevelopment, causing many to question whether it was worth it.