Island Tourism
Deliver a year round tourism economy
Tourism has, for a long time, been the largest single economic driver on the Isle of Wight.
In 2015, the total value of tourism on the Island was £526million. It represents 25% of the Island economy, around 30% of Island residents are employed in the tourism industry and a further 20% are indirectly employed via the supply chain. The Island faces strong competition from high quality UK destinations and
overseas. Visitor expectations of places to stay, visit and eat have increased and the market is also pushing to have experiences beyond the traditional tourist season of April to October.
Increasing the tourist season will benefit many SME businesses on the Island and crucially will provide young people with stable year-round careers.
Although the Island has suffered from seasonality in terms of employment, VIOW and local businesses are working hard to extend the season in order to correct this.
Deliver a year round tourism economy
Tourism has, for a long time, been the largest single economic driver on the Isle of Wight.
In 2015, the total value of tourism on the Island was £526million. It represents 25% of the Island economy, around 30% of Island residents are employed in the tourism industry and a further 20% are indirectly employed via the supply chain. The Island faces strong competition from high quality UK destinations and
overseas. Visitor expectations of places to stay, visit and eat have increased and the market is also pushing to have experiences beyond the traditional tourist season of April to October.
Increasing the tourist season will benefit many SME businesses on the Island and crucially will provide young people with stable year-round careers.
Although the Island has suffered from seasonality in terms of employment, VIOW and local businesses are working hard to extend the season in order to correct this.
October is now as important a month as August.
Vectis Ventures continually invests in both parks, creating exciting experiences to attract new visitors and providing sustainable growth in two of the IOW’s most important tourism assets.
In 2014, investment was made in a completely new, major attraction at Blackgang Chine – ‘Restricted Area 5’ which includes some of the largest animatronic dinosaurs in the country. The opening was highlighted as a major news item on BBC South Today and attracted the biggest number of visitors ever to Blackgang Chine.
Investment in Robin Hill’s award-winning ‘electric woods’ events which take place every January/ February (Spirit of the Orient) and October/November (Festival of Light) – was as a route to extending the tourism season on the Island As a result of the success of these events, October has now become as important a month for Robin Hill Country Park as the summer season. Over 17,000 off-Island visitors attended the October event in 2016.
Visit Isle of Wight’s Destination Management Plan 2015-2019 requires an additional 100,000 visitors to events and festivals to grow the Island economy and, along with the ferry companies, has recognised the ‘electric woods’ as having significant growth potential to help achieve this.
