The results from visitor surveys undertaken by Isle of Man based Research Offshore for this year’s TT Races and Festival of Motorcycling (which includes the Manx Grand Prix) have shown significant growth in the number of visitors to the Isle of Man and the economic contribution that both events make.

The Department of Economic Development introduced a new marketing strategy for the events in 2011 with funding from the government’s Marketing Initiatives Fund.

This new marketing approach coincided with the launch of the Classic TT Races and the evolution of the Manx Grand Prix Festival into the Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling.

This year’s TT Races attracted more than 42,000 visitors while the Festival of Motorcycling attracted more than 15,000 visitors.

The DED says this represents visitor growth of more than 42 per cent over a six-year period, the majority of which has occurred since the introduction of the new marketing strategy in 2011.

The two events combined generated £27.8m for the Manx economy in 2015, which is an increase of £11.9m from a 2009 Treasury survey figure, an increase averaging 12 per cent per year.

The benefit to the taxman has also risen sharply during this period increasing from just over £3m in 2009 to £5m a year by 2015, giving average annual growth of 11 per cent.

The surveys also showed that more than 30 per cent of the visitors in 2015 were attending one of the events for the first time, which represents almost 15,000 new visitors to the Isle of Man this year alone.

The department says it will shortly start looking for an independent promoter to further develop the commercial and marketing programme for the TT and Classic TT, and to ensure these opportunities for further benefits to the Manx economy and taxpayer are realised.

David Cretney MLC, the politician responsible for motor sport said:

‘The results outlined in the recent TT and Festival of Motorcycling surveys demonstrate just how effective our marketing approach to both events has been in recent years.

‘The TT continues to enjoy year on year growth in all measureable areas, whilst the introduction of the Classic TT and the formation of the Festival of Motorcycling has delivered sharp increases in visitor numbers and spend in a very short period of time.

‘The department will have spent £4.6m by year end delivering these two events for 2015. With commercial income streams for both events rising sharply to over £2.4m for 2015 and with the benefit to the exchequer of £5m, we are delivering almost £3m worth of net receipts back to Treasury while at the same time generating almost £28m for the Manx economy on an annual basis.’