MORE people are coming to the Isle of Wight as a tourist and the amount they spend has increased.

Research compiled by Tourism South East shows 2018 saw an increase in the total visitor spend over the year — up by nine per cent to £303 million — which means an average spend per head/per trip of £127.92.

Holiday visits to the Isle of Wight also saw an increase of five per cent compared to 2017.

Although short breaks fell by two per cent across the year, holidaymakers spending five nights or more saw a significant rise of 19 per cent in 2018.

Will Myles, managing director of Visit Isle of Wight said: "It was definitely a year where all the seasons came in to play.

"It was heavy snow when I first started my job in March, there’s been rain through Easter and we saw at the end of August lots of heavy rain, glorious temperatures for much of the summer, it’s been amazing."

Visit Isle of Wight’s remit to increase visitors to the Island in the ‘shoulder’ (not peak) months has shown an increase of 9.2 per cent compared to the previous year.

Will added: "We’ve seen visitor figures increase through the shoulder seasons, certainly in Quarter 1 which was up by 0.2 per cent and in Quarter 4, October, November and December which was up by nine per cent.

"These figures are demonstrating our goal to increase visitors here throughout the year is continuing to succeed.

"This can only happen with the unceasing support of tourism businesses through the Wight BID, through voluntary contributors and obviously through our strategic business partners as well.

"It’s crucial we continue to work in this way and to keep the Island in the spotlight, to make sure it is the destination of choice."

Will also paid tribute to the small team at Visit Isle of Wight for making the most of the budget available to them.

"We don’t have as much marketing spend as some of the other regions," he said.

"It’s great our team work together, continuing to get first time visitors here, changing them into regular visitors who will come back time and time again and hopefully, we’ll get more people coming in 2019 with our ‘Discover the Isle of Wight for…' campaign.

"Looking at the national picture, the Visit England statistics available at the moment show the Isle of Wight is doing really well in its competitive set."

Abi Fox, brand manager at Visit Isle of Wight said: "We recently launched our ‘Discover the Isle of Wight for…’ campaign during Twixmas 2018 giving people more reasons to visit the Island along with the chance to enter a competition to win a holiday worth over £2,500.

"We’re very pleased with the success of the campaign so far and look forward to continue working with Island businesses throughout 2019."

Visit Isle of Wight has also helped generate £3.9 million worth of media coverage for the Island, which accounts for an increase of 42 per cent on 2017.

Journalists and TV producers who are looking for items for their media outlets will contact Visit Isle of Wight to discover what the Island has to offer. When they do, they liaise with Visit Isle of Wight press officer, Sue Emmerson.

Sue said: "The level of press engagement in 2018 has clearly had a positive impact in getting the word out about what the Isle of Wight has to offer, and so far this year, interest from journalists has been even higher.

"The involvement from businesses here on the Island is crucial in demonstrating what there is to discover on the Isle of Wight — from exciting attractions and events, great walking and cycling routes, picturesque villages, seaside resorts and historic towns, and of course great locally sourced food and drink."