Chief Minister Alf Cannan has told Keys that the DfE holds specific responsibility for tourism, TT, and motorsport messaging, with no formal budget allocated to central government communications for the event.
He was quizzed on the issue by Jason Moorhouse during Tuesday morning’s sitting.
Cannan stated: “The Department for Enterprise has a dedicated team responsible for messaging and campaigns for our TT visitors and indeed for all those who experience our beautiful island.
“I believe our TT visitors received a warm welcome with well-planned communications throughout the festival.”
He highlighted the TT info line on WhatsApp, which has over 72,000 followers, as a key tool.
Funding
On funding, Cannan clarified: “There is no specific budget to central government communication services for the TT. They do have a budget outside of employee costs of £33,119 for the year.”
Mr Moorhouse questioned coordination across government, asking: “Is there one main office responsible for checking messaging, or is it merely a case of producing their own output?”
He also raised TT branding, inquiring whether it would be featured on government websites. Mr Cannan told him that he could “see no advantage to changing branding.”
Mr Moorhouse later linked the issue to policy messaging, noting a constituent’s query about the Pride flag appearing in government communications.
Mr Cannan dismissed the comparison saying they are “completely and utterly different issues”.
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