Visit Isle of Wight (VIOW) has announced that the Isle of Wight Walking Festival – Isle Walk 18 – will take place between 21st April and 13th May 2018.
VIOW took over the management of the 2017 walking festival in February of this year following the Isle of Wight Council’s decision not to continue funding and managing the event. The controversial WightBID levy provided £10,000 to keep the festival going.
For 2018 a larger budget has been agreed, allowing the walks to be more extensively promoted off Island. Sponsorship is also being sought.
David Thornton CEO of Visit Isle of Wight said:
“We are extending the event to three weeks next year, and have increased the budget by 50% to attract more new visitors.
“In 2017 a much smaller festival still attracted thousands of participants and delivered an 18:1 return into the Island’s economy, with more than 80 individual walks taking place across the Island. Nevertheless, it was something of a scramble to get the event together and launched in time, so we’ve taken an early decision to go with the event next year, allowing us to develop more effective marketing, a wider variety of walks, including some new ones, and encourage as many walk leaders as possible to get involved”.
The popular Isle of Wight Walking Festival remains one of the UK’s biggest walking festivals, and allows participants to follow in the footsteps of everyone; from Alfred Lord Tennyson to Jimi Hendrix and dinosaurs to the perfect dawn chorus. Walkers head everywhere from Queen Victoria’s Osborne House to across the Island with Walk the Wight – an event that sees thousands of people walk between 8 and 26.5 miles across the breadth of the Isle of Wight for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.
Walking is recognised as an ideal way to improve well-being and with around 80 country and coastal walks to choose from over 16 days, IsleWalk is a great way to kickstart the habit. All walks are led by local enthusiasts who are keen to share their knowledge of this beautiful island with you – and what’s more, most walks are free.
If you’re a walk leader, contact Kay Pakes [email protected] to find out how to register your walk.
