Isle of Wight Tourism

Isle of Wight Tourist attraction Tourism on the Isle of Wight is still the largest industry on the Island. In 2006, the island was host to 3.7 million visitors. Of these, 2.5 million stayed overnight. These holiday makers didnt just visit the iow for a traditional seaside resort holiday, they also came to savour the islands natural heritage, including wildlife and geology.

Isle of Wight Tourism Only 250,000 of these visitors were international visitors. Between 1998 and 2005, Isle of Wight tourism increased at a rate of 6% per year, on average. As well as more traditional tourist attractions, the Isle of Wight is often host to walking or cycling holidays, through the attractive scenery.

Isle of Wight Attraction Out of the peak summer season, the Isle of Wight still attracts vast tourism as the island becomes an important destination for coach tours from other parts of the UK. Another big tourism attractions is the islands annual walking festival which attracts considerable interest every year.

The Isle of Wight is the home of the smallest train operating company in the United Kingdom's National Rail network, the Island Line. This runs some 8½ miles from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin, down the eastern side of the iow via Brading and Sandown. These are electric trains, using former London Undergroundrolling stock. The island also has a steam-operated heritage railway, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway which is a big asset to toursim on the island. The steam railway connects with the island Line at Smallbrook Junction.

Today much of the old rail network on the Isle of Wight has been converted to cycle ways, including the Newport - Cowes , Newport - Sandown and Yarmouth - Freshwater sections. A sign used to greet visitors to the iow disembarking from the car ferry at Fishbourne, stating'Island roads are different, please drive carefully'.

It is a joke amongst local residents that the reason why there roads are different is due to a lack of maintenance by the council. Nevertheless the lighter traffic, quieter roads and slower speeds are noticeable to the visitor and are one of the reasons the Isle of Wight has remained attractive to tourists from the busier mainland. The Isle of Wight has 489 miles of roadway.