Economic Development Minister Laurence Skelly says the Isle of Man works with ’Celtic partners’ to promote tourism in conjunction with neighbouring countries.

The Celtic Media Festival, staged in the Isle of Man earlier this month, was attended by more than 230 guests and the minister said it was hoped it would ’bring the island closer to its Celtic partners through the creation of business development opportunities and the strengthening of cultural ties with regional broadcasters’.

Responding to a Tynwald question from Speaker Juan Watterson, Mr Skelly added: ’The department also works with the organisers of Yn Chruinnaght, who put on the newly branded Celtfest Isle of Man, to facilitate journalists from neighbouring Celtic nations visiting and promoting the island’s most important Celtic festival which showcases talented Celtic musicians at Peel each July.

’To support both the existing Glasgow and the new Edinburgh air routes, we are also targeting the regions from a PR perspective, as well as researching the possibility of some TV advertising on [Scottish ITV station] STV.’

The Destination Management Plan, launched last year, aimed to ’grow the tourism and visitor economy sector consistently in a sustainable manner’ by working with the tourism sector to increase its contribution to the economy.

He added: ’The island faces strong competition from destinations throughout the UK and overseas, many with much larger budgets, trying to attract the same business.

’The department’s strategy is to focus on targeting potential growth leisure markets, specifically the UK short break and family markets, and to make efforts to consolidate the business visitors and visiting friends and relatives’ markets which have been in decline in recent years.’