The Island has suffered yet another tourism blow this week as Visit Isle of Wight confirm that the Pearl Izumi cycle race won’t return to the streets of Ryde or any other Island town in 2016.
Following news that the Isle of Wight Council are pulling £330,000 of funding from the tourism authority, Visit Isle of Wight (VIOW) have confirmed that the £75,000 sponsorship needed to bring the Pearl Izumi series to the Island will not be available.
The race, which is organised and promoted by Sweetspot, cost nearly £100,000 to stage in 2015. £75,000 was funded by Visit Isle of Wight and LSTF (The Local and Sustainable Transport Fund) with the remainder given as ‘in kind’ funding by other businesses; principally Island Roads who contributed £20,000.
With the Isle of Wight Council’s withdrawal of funding, Visit Isle of Wight’s budget has been halved and LSTF funding stops on 31st March 2016. Even if the proposed Business Improvement District (BID) is successful that money will not be available until September or October 2016.
David Thornton, Chief Executive of Visit Isle of Wight commented:
“Obviously I’m thrilled that Sweetspot want to stage the Pearl Izumi Tour Series on the Island on a biennial basis. However the funding is not there to fulfil this at present.
“The development of a BID is the mechanism by which the Island can democratically decide whether they want to support this and other events. It’s very much in the hands of business; do they want a BID and do they then think Pearl Izumi the right event for the Isle of Wight? The BID is the mechanism by which decisions about the future of the visitor economy on the Isle of Wight could be taken.”
Around 10,000 people lined the streets of Ryde back in May of this year to watch the town’s inaugural professional cycle race, despite bad weather moving in.
The news follows the announcement that Seaview Wildlife Encounter has closed its doors after 44 years and news that Fort Victoria Aqaurium has also closed after 31 years.
