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Full Passenger Survey published

Thursday, 29 March 2018

The Economic Affairs unit of the Cabinet Office has published the full report of the 2017 Passenger Survey.

The annual survey provides information on levels of passenger traffic to and from the Island by sea and by air, and includes business travellers as well as tourists and local residents.

The full report gives a more detailed breakdown of these figures and provides additional data, including estimates of the expenditure, length of stay and area of residence of visitors.

Key Points

  • Total scheduled passenger departures increased over the year to 687,981 in 2017, compared with 675,048 in 2016
  • The number of visitors during 2017 decreased by 8.7% to 266,850. The 1.9% increase in total passenger departures is accounted for entirely by increased travel of Isle of Man residents
  • After holding steady from 2015 to 2016, the number of non-business visitors staying in paid accommodation decreased in 2017 by 3.6% to 129,860
  • The average length of stay of visitors to the Island (including business visitors) was estimated at 5.1 nights, which is a 2.6% increase compared with 2016
  • Despite lower overall visitor numbers, the estimated total expenditure by visitors to the Island during 2017 increased by 5.6% to £112.6 million, and average visitor spend increased by 23.4% to £448. It should be noted that this rate of increase may in part be attributable to improved data collection methods applied to visitor expenditure
  • During 2017 the proportion of visitors from the North West of England (28.8%) was comparable to 2016, although the proportion of visitors from the South East declined slightly. Visitors from outside the UK and Ireland continue to increase

The majority of residents leaving the Island were either travelling to the North West of England (36.1%) or outside of the UK and Ireland (27.0%).

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