Inovative Ways To Improve Tourism On Mann?

[cheeky boy]

It has to be niche markets. The Parish Walk (can't see a run somehow), for example, could be sexed right up and grown into a very large international event. Perhaps team up with a large charity for promotion, say the British Heart Foundation, and make it a high profile event which will attract distance walkers worldwide. At the same time though, there could be mini walking challenges for different sectors of the whole walk; e.g. a particularly hilly sector could be the 'Uphill Walking Challenge', or an easy sector could be the 'Family Challenge' etc. etc.

 

We have the raw material for a great many niche attractions; walking, bird watching, archaeology, coastal pursuits (I am told that we have on of the best seas for windsurfing) they just need packaging.

 

 

Intelligent and constructive response as usual

 

My money's still on "Parish Bum"

[Rilla]

As somebody who only recently moved to this wonderful island (a year ago almost exactly), I belive the first step would be to raise awarnes of just where the island is and more importantly, all it has to offer already. It is sad to say (and i dont mean to be rude or offend) but in England, if a person isnt into motorike racing, then 99% of the time, people just dont even know where the Isle of Man is (and even worse, most poeple i told i was moving here thought i meant the Isle of Wight).

Once awareness has been raised, then we really do need to look at the cost involved in getting here, and also staying. I have been comming over since i was 17 for the TT and on average, the cost for 2 weeks here was on par with a 2 week holiday to the USA or equivilent.

First up (and i know its already been said) is the bloody steam racket, either force them to play fair, or allow some sort of opposition to them, monopolies are never any good other than for the person/people monopolising.

Once that has been delt with, then we can look towards what can be done to attract more visitors here. I whole heartidly agree with the motorsports facility mentioned before. Its a logical choice for a location, almost right between England, Ireland, Wales & Scotland, and if located up around jurby etc, then a really impressive circuit could be provided, and lets face it, it would attract millions into the island if done propperly (formula 1 will bring millions on its own).

Unfortunatly, any other large scale development would attract the 'riff raff' people seem opposed against, but, riff raff or not, they will bring money into the Island for all to benifit from. Maybe a major theme park (euro disney style) or something of that nature.

I think the main down fall is weather, and as much as i prey for sunshine, it is a law unto itself. The island just cant compete with spain, greece & turkey, and lets face it, no one wants to go on holiday to get pnumonia and frostbite.

 

 

 

edit to fix my illiterate spelling mistakes

[Gladys]

Yes, Cheeky Boy, perhaps we could rename it as 'The Starfish Challenge' or to carry my theme 'The Uphill Gardening Challenge'.

 

Welcome Rilla, glad you like it here. It does have a lot to offer, pity that for many of us familiarity has bred such contempt and ignorance at the exceptional standard of living and environment we have.

[cheeky boy]

Nice to see you warming to my theme Gladys

 

The sponsors are already queuing up

 

KY, The Clone Zone, Guys & Dolls, Harpoon Louis's Lash House

[Gladys]

If you sign up Dunkin' Donuts then you have it in the bag.

[Gladys]

On a more serious note, could we offer a Wild Food experience a la Ray Mears? I am sure there may the odd chef herabouts who could take the theme up and there is plenty of resource to provide the ingredients. He highly recommends razorshells, of which there must be plenty, and we have acres of uncultivated land which could throw up some other indigenous delicacies. At this time of year Port Soderick glen is packed with mushrooms and fungi of all descriptions, I would love to know which were edible, but really don't have the guts to experiment, but an educated gatherer would have a gastronomic cornucopia at their disposal.

 

Just a thought.

[Mission]

people just dont even know where the Isle of Man is (and even worse, most poeple i told i was moving here thought i meant the Isle of White).

 

Where's the Isle of White then? I know where the Isle of Wight is...

 

[The Bastard]

Some cracking replies, plumbing new depths of bitterness. Can't wait for the Parish Walk to become a "major international event" of the status of Cronk-y-Voddey sports day. Super-casino would be good though, and nuking Andreas airport for a dedicated racetrack gets my vote.

 

Seriously though :

 

Dry Ski Slope - why the hell not ? We've got miles of hills untroubled except for sheep and their associated perverts. The UK still lacks some of the most modern artificial slopes, and something like an Astroride slope would attract a lot of attention from the UK ski community. Check this one out. Stick in some sphering, tobogganing and the rest, too.

 

MTB tracks - with such a small area filled with mountainous bits, it could be a great MTB holiday destination. But we've only got one track planned. Not exactly going to put Wales in the shade, is it ?

 

Coast Sports - The surf is great, there's great kayaking, jet-skiing, wakeboarding, water-skiing, fishing, powerboating and sailing everywhere, but nobody doing it and nowhere for tourists to book it. With all the wind and sand busily eroding from the north, we've apparently got one of Europe's best sites for Kitesurfing, landboarding & kite buggying, but no provision for the sport. Look at Jersey's burgeoning surfing scene, the beachside bars and facilities & areas set aside for coast sports. Why not ? What about a 5-year programme investing in developing coast sports ?

 

The main problem for this stuff is that the IOM lacks cheap, accessible accommodation & cheap, accessible activities - it should be possible to get over for nearly f**k all on a foot passenger fare & then book bunkhouse accommodation on a farm & check out a big range of outdoor stuff to do from a range promoted by the DTL. Instead, even though you can get here reasonably cheaply, the accommodation is top dollar and it's a major pain in the arse finding something to do that isn't booked up weeks in advance. The DTL hasn't yet made the connection between investing in activites and numbers of tourists - a decent dry ski facility would be packing them in, but after getting its fingers burned on the tyre ring, "Bounty" replica and all that shite, the DTL is afraid to invest in anything. The few attractions over here are shoddy and cheap.

[slinkydevil]

Coast Sports - The surf is great, there's great kayaking, jet-skiing, wakeboarding, water-skiing, fishing, powerboating and sailing everywhere, but nobody doing it and nowhere for tourists to book it. With all the wind and sand busily eroding from the north, we've apparently got one of Europe's best sites for Kitesurfing, landboarding & kite buggying, but no provision for the sport. Look at Jersey's burgeoning surfing scene, the beachside bars and facilities & areas set aside for coast sports. Why not ? What about a 5-year programme investing in developing coast sports ?

 

 

Bullshit. We just don't, I'm chairman of the local kitesurfing club and travel all over Europe and the world kitesurfing. Our conditions are average at best. We have been trying to get a leg of the BKSA championship over here but the cost for competitors and spectators to get over with the chance of wind not being available for a fixed weekend is just a no go. Jerseys kitesurfing scene is probably comparable with ours, although their surfing scene is much larger, why? Because they face the atlantic and get proper swells. Unfortunatley that big bit of land called Ireland just gets in our way. You only have to look at Tiree in the Scottish Isles who base most of their tourism around Surfing/Windsurfing (Tiree Wave Classic) and Kitesurfing and it's because they have the best swells in from the atlantic. There is a thriving community here, a lot of people are involved and it is growing slowly. We have qualified instructors but that has fallen by the wayside because its weather dependant, expensive, dangerous and has an Ultra steep learning curve. We even have a local manxman who is a pro rider but guess what he lives in St. Lucia (http://www.cabrinhakites.com/national-team/caribbean/david-hastilow.html).

 

There are too many locations in the UK that knock socks off us and it doesn't involve getting a ferry with the chance it isn't windy. Anyone who says it's always windy on the IOM is bullshitting. We know, we are out whenever it is. Having said that had a great session tonight at Ballaugh 28-38knots of wind. Guess how many were out? 2 of us because it's specialised in high winds.

 

The sufing scene here is growing too, but again there are only a handful of times when it really works well over here. Usually in the winter and usually when the wind has picked up some swell over a few days, certain breaks will go off. There is just no comparison with jumping in a car and driving down to Cornwall or Devon.

 

So there is provision for the sport (kitesurfing), we have put up a few visitors here including the UK national champion (Sam Light) - we had a few guys over from Cumbria last weekend doing a crossing from here to Whitehaven. I'm off to ride with them this weekend in Cumbria. But I can gurantee most of the kitesurfing done here will be local interest only - no one will come over here when it is half the price to go to Tarifa in Spain with guranteed wind.

[The Bastard]

What a superb ambassador for your sport. So it's shit and nobody should bother with it, and go somewhere else. Sounds fair to me.

 

Presumably there's a reason why you haven't buggered off to Spain, already though ?

[willstain]

Quite like the suggestions by Blue Monday and Lonan 3 calling for a "Parish Run" built on the success of the Parish Walk and bid to attract the "Pink Pound" by making the place gay friendly

 

Why not combine the two by having a "Parish Bum" ?

 

Same course, but instead of touching the door of each parish church competitors have to commit buggery in each churchyard

 

We could try for Olympic status !

 

Why not have a bike race and let your daughter be the local bike?

[slinkydevil]

What a superb ambassador for your sport. So it's shit and nobody should bother with it, and go somewhere else. Sounds fair to me.

 

Presumably there's a reason why you haven't buggered off to Spain, already though ?

 

I didn't say it's shit and we are involved in a lot of hard work promoting the sport here. It's just not the best location in Europe (your words). I know the sport very well and it won't sell here, it's dependant on stuff you can't control - get it?

[Rilla]

people just dont even know where the Isle of Man is (and even worse, most poeple i told i was moving here thought i meant the Isle of White).

 

Where's the Isle of White then? I know where the Isle of Wight is...

 

 

 

Erm, whoops, it was late and i was trying to type fast, erm, cant think of any other excuse other than i was educated in England

[TerryMcCann]

Where's the Isle of White then? I know where the Isle of Wight is...

 

 

Well if you asked Vanessa Feltz she would think it was here.

 

Either that or the Isle of Chips....

[Albert Tatlock]

...formula 1 will bring millions on its own...

 

...Maybe a major theme park (euro disney style) or something of that nature...

I also think we should give serious consideration to Formula 1, not forgetting there is also a good following on F2, British Super Bikes, car racing etc. etc. Tracks are only typically a few miles in length. 8-10 keys events a year (with a build up of a week to each event) and lots of smaller events would provide demand and fill hotels for the bulk of the season, probably attracting well over a million visitors - and regenerate the North of the island (probably the best place for a track) - with a new linkspan provided in Ramsey harbour (and even the Queens Pier having justification for being renovated into a tourist facility).

 

This would also attract a lot of associated businesses, especially if given tax breaks. But the number of likely visitors cannot at present be supported by the current infrastructure (TT week is chaos as it is). The 'home of motorsport' is a clear easily marketable position if you seriously want to get people to visit, perhaps likely to provide enough traffic to even break the SR monopoly (which would offer further opportunities for all). To limit the chaos to the islands roads, there would probably have to be limits set as to the number of vehicles (fans' bikes/cars) that could be brought over for each event, and/or congestion charging (with free permits for locally registered vehicles) to be introduced in Douglas (if you are a visitor not staying there), and events to be managed (e.g. set up in Ramsey, Jurby etc.) allowing us to 'manage traffic' and for Peel and Ramsey etc. the opportunity to thrive on the business also.

 

In short, if we really want to attract visitors we should 'stick to the knitting' and do what we are already good at doing - other attempts at increasing visitors are proving pretty worthless. The world's focus would be on the island, especially if we got an F1 event, boosting all sectors.

 

As for a Eurodisney style park - I can see that being a major white elephant - if Paris had a major problem initially getting visitors, then we couldn't - plus we would be likely to attract a lot of the chavs Blackpool are currently trying to get rid of.