FIGURES showing a massive rise in the number of hotel bookings made on the Island have been welcomed by the IW Council.
According to statistics published by website booking company laterooms.com, more than four times as many hotel bookings were made on the Isle of Wight over the summer than over the same period last year.
The massive rise of 407% has been revealed following a national study by laterooms.com. This is the biggest increased recorded in the UK, way ahead East Anglia (297%) and the Scottish Highlands (219%).
In contrast, other south coast areas such as Bournemouth and Poole recorded just a 90% increase.
The Isle of Wight Council launched a major £360,000 tourism marketing campaign called 'Just Add Water' in early 2009 to advertise the Island to a wide range of areas, including London and the Midlands. Website advertising was a key strand of this campaign.
Isle of Wight Council Deputy Leader George Brown, whose Cabinet responsibility also includes tourism, said the figures firmly suggested the campaign had paid dividends.
"The council was keen to promote the Island, especially with the so-called 'staycation' trend, and we teamed up with partners in the tourism industry to launch Just Add Water.
"These figures from laterooms.com are very welcome and certainly further evidence that the campaign has proved to be a big success and there is no reason why we cannot continue the upward trend next year.