By Carole Dennett
They say ‘no news is good news’ – but does that hold true for our tourism economy?
Many Islanders have remarked on how quiet things feel, at a time when the tourist season should be picking up. The IW Observer speaks daily with businesses that depend on visitors, and few are reporting a busy start to the year.
That’s why we asked Visit Isle of Wight back in May for the results of the tourism surveys covering January to March (Q1) this year. We were told the data would be delayed until early June – because managing director Will Myers was on holiday and the results needed to be ‘validated’.
Chasing again this week, we were informed that the figures won’t be released until after the end of June. The reason? This year’s Q1 data doesn’t include Easter, and cannot be compared directly with last year’s.
But Easter moves every year. It’s determined by the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March. This year Easter Sunday was April 20; last year it was March 31. In the last 15 years, Easter has fallen in March just three times – and in April 12 times. That’s not unusual, and we’ve found no record of this ever delaying the release of data before.
So why now? Visit Isle of Wight – like everyone else – knew the date of Easter back in May. If the tourism figures were not going to be released, why wasn’t that made clear then?
Could it be that no news is, in fact, bad news? It’s understood the Q1 figures show a drop in overnight stays of at least ten per cent. That would certainly align with what many in the industry are telling us.
Those same businesses, who are required by law to pay into the BID (Business Improvement District) that funds Visit Isle of Wight, are surely entitled to know what’s really going on. After all, he who pays the piper usually calls the tune – though not, it seems, when it comes to Visit Isle of Wight. That is despite the glossy BID document saying BID levy payers will be entitled to ‘access to research & data’; it says nothing about it having to be validated or its release being subject to any criteria.
Last October, we also asked whether ferry problems and high fares were impacting tourism. We were told there was no evidence to support that – but that research was being commissioned to examine the barriers to visiting the Island. Now, we’ve learned that work hasn’t even started, and there’s still no firm timetable.
Is no news good news? It seems only time will tell – but Islanders, and especially those businesses that fund Visit Isle of Wight, deserve better answers in the meantime.
