There was positive news arising out of the latest Visitor Economy Strategic Group meeting which took place recently.
The group is made up of a cross-section of key individuals representing tourism, hospitality and transport and meets monthly to discuss strategic matters of importance to the overall Visitor Economy, a sector which attracts over £100million of local spend annually.
David Cretney MHK, the Department Member with responsibility for Tourism and Motorsport chaired the meeting. He commented:
‘I was very encouraged following the meeting by the very positive feedback that the group provided on the state of the industry to date this year.
‘For example, we know there has been an increase this year in the number of visitors to the Island staying in paid accommodation with figures for the first 6 months of 2014 showing a 10% increase for the same period in 2013.
‘This was reinforced by the accommodation providers at the meeting reporting that occupancy levels were at least 5% up on this time in 2013.
‘This is also having a positive impact on the providers of leisure activities and the numbers for the Island’s heritage railways are up 4% compared with last year.’
This builds on the good growth in the previous two years such that the number of tourists has grown by over 10% in the last three years.
These achievements reflect the success of the Department’s Visitor Economy Strategy launched in 2012, which set out the need to drive up quality and exploit new markets to develop the Island as a year-round, distinctive and unique visitor destination.
Marketing and promotion is targeted towards high-value niche markets as well as having a greater focus on specific geographic regions, such as integrated marketing campaigns in the North West of England.
In acknowledgement of this, the Department has been working with the industry to better market the Isle of Man in ‘off-season’ periods and the Steam Packet has reported that their Autumn bookings are 4% up on last year.
Groups and coach bookings are up overall, with more parties coming earlier in the year which has come about as a direct result of industry and the Department working together. The Rutland Hotel was opened earlier than usual this year to cater for the increase in groups and coach bookings in early Spring.
This has led to the number of coach bookings being up 7% at the end of August 2014 compared to the same time in 2013.
The prospects for developing these markets is looking promising with a party of 14 group tour operators and five new tour companies visiting the Island in November with a view to including the Island in their brochures from 2016. These 19 businesses are as a result of our presence at Best of Britain and Ireland Trade Exhibition in March 2014.
Angela Byrne, Head of Tourism commented:
‘All in all it has been a very positive year so far. As ever the focus is on growing occupancy and visitor spend early and late season and despite an improvement this year we are committed to developing the ‘off-seasons’ further in partnership with industry.
‘We are always looking at new initiatives to promote the Island. The Isle of Man had a stand at the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival which took place in September and which was attended by 45,000 people. This generated significant interest in the Isle of Man and our wonderful local produce.’
The Island has also enjoyed another great year of media coverage, with coverage having been secured in most of the UK’s national newspapers, specialist titles as well as TV coverage.
Mr Cretney continued:
‘The Department works closely with off-Island media to secure these opportunities and enjoys a great deal of co-operation with both industry, other areas of Government such as Isle of Man Railways and statutory agencies, particularly Manx National Heritage, to ensure that these opportunities are optimised.’
