Isle of Man trying to lure more 'superfan' tourists

The Isle of Man wants at least 500,000 visitors per year by 2032

The Isle of Man needs to create more "superfans" who want to keep returning to the island for holidays, the new head of the island's tourism body said.

Deborah Heather has taken up the Visit Isle of Man agency's newly created post of chief executive officer.

She said there was a real opportunity to draw more visitors from the UK and further afield by raising awareness of everything the island has to offer.

However, she warned against attracting too many tourists at the same time.

The visitor economy strategy sets a target of growing annual visitor numbers to 500,000 by 2032.

Figures from 2019, the last unrestricted holiday season for the island before the Covid pandemic, showed almost 330,000 people spent about £142m visiting the island.

Ms Heather said that was "very realistic" using plans to boost visitors during the "shoulder months" of February to March, and October to November.

She said: "What we don't want to do is encourage over-tourism, so the shoulder seasons are the best places for us to initially start to grow."

'Authenticity'

The island had "underperformed" in the past, but that could be overturned, Ms Heather said.

"I think the pandemic has changed the way people shop and where they like to visit, and open spaces, back to nature, all of those things are what they're after as experiences," she said.

"The island has amazing natural resources. The biosphere is something that is so interesting to people."

Promoting that could help position it as a competitor to other areas like the Lake District and parts of Ireland, she said.

"We've got to give the island a voice, we've got to let people know all the treasures that are here and everything they can discover and turn more into 'superfans'," she added.

"I think we have to be careful how we use the budgets and how we market the place and how we represent it and give it authenticity."