The latest report issued by Visit Isle of Man shows that less Manx residents are taking holidays off the island.
Last year saw a drop of nearly 100,000 fewer trips being taken by Manx residents.
In 2023, Manx passenger numbers to the UK or further afield were at 411,289, whilst 2024 saw only 323,909 passengers.
Less Travel
Last year, 20,000 less trips were taken by sea at 142,163, compared to 162,410 in 2023.
Whereas air travel has seen a drop in nearly 70,000 seats being taken by residents.
Visit IOM’s figures show that in 2023 the resident count for air was at 248,879, however in 2024 that figure dropped to 181,746.
Destinations
For the residents that are still opting to make the trip across the Irish sea there has been a change in the trend of locations.
It’s pretty obvious that the most used ferry port is Heysham, which welcomed 61.2% of all ferry passengers.This is a 1.1% drop since 2023.
The government’s £70million sea terminal welcomed 35.1% of ferry passengers, a drop in 0.5% from 2023.
Air Travel
Air travel is where the biggest change has been, not only in numbers but also where people are choosing to fly to.
Birmingham has nearly doubled the amount of Manx passengers, from 7.1% in 2023, to 12.2% in 2024.
Whereas Liverpool has more than halved its traveller numbers dropping to 10.6% in 2024, compared to 21.8% in 2023.
With the loss of the Belfast routes, Dublin has seen an increase of 10.5%, from 2.2% in 2023 to 12.6% in 2024.
Reasons For Leaving?
The report shows that less people are choosing to leave the island for a holiday.
In 2023, 61% of island travellers were off on their holidays, compared to only 47.2% of travellers going on holiday in 2024.
There has been a rise of nearly 1% in Manx residents travelling across the Irish sea for hospital visits.
More people are also opting to go visit friends and family or leaving the island for business reasons.
You can read the full report here.
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