Island visitor numbers rose by 11,000 last year

Catherine Nicoll
BBC News, Isle of Man
MANX SCENES Castletown Harbour on a bright day. There are boats moored in the inner harbour and Castle Rushen can be seen on the right-hand side. There are colourful flowers in the foreground and blue sky with fluffy white clouds above.MANX SCENES
The number of visitors to the Isle of Man increased to 329,613 last year

The number of visitors to the Isle of Man continued to rise in 2024 but have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, tourism bosses have said.

A total of 329,613 people travelled to the island last year, up 11,613 on the previous figure.

The amount contributed to the Manx economy by visitors saw a jump of a further £27m on last year taking it to just above £210m, despite arrivals failing to match 2019's 330,000 arrivals.

Visit Isle of Man CEO Deborah Heather said the figures represented a drive to create "sustainable growth" in the tourism on the island.

Carried out by Tourism South East, the annual Isle of Man Passenger Survey showed visitors stayed an average of 5.04 nights, with each person spending £663 in the local economy.

Of those who travelled to the island, 57.7% came for a holiday, 27.8% were visiting friends or family and 14.5% made the journey for business.

The figures showed 87.1% of those visiting came from the British Isles.

In 2022, the government set out a 10-year strategy to grow tourism on the island to 500,000 visitor per year by 2032.

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