For many years, the public sector (and some private sector partners) have been spending money together to promote the Island for holidays, short breaks and day trips. In 2016 this funding stopped when IWCouncil announced that stringent cut-backs demanded by central government meant they were no longer able to make this annual investment on behalf of the Island’s tourism and hospitality economy. The same thing is happening in many parts of the UK.

Visit Isle of Wight, as the Island’s tourism agency, had sufficient ongoing support from private companies to keep going, but nowhere near enough money to promote the Island effectively once the public sector investment had come to an end. 

Visit Isle of Wight LTD (VIOW) and its partners looked at a wide range of funding models and ideas, and then invited everyone from the visitor economy to come together and discuss the options.

A Business Improvement District (or BID) is a statutory process, which means that if it is voted for by the majority, the collection of the BID fund becomes compulsory from all those who are included in the BID scope.

The “BID scope” simply means all the different types of tourism and hospitality businesses that the BID is focused on benefiting. Scope is usually determined by looking down the list of Business rated properties and selecting NNDR classification codes that apply to the focus of the BID work, in this case, the visitor economy.

The motion to create a BID was carried in 2016 and a second BID was passed in October 2021 – you can see the second BID proposal here.

Under BID rules, our local Council must be appointed to collect the levy payments. VIOW has contracted with IWCouncil to operate the BID collection service, and their normal terms and revenue collection conditions apply.  VIOW pays IWCouncil for this service.

The WIGHT BID is a large and very diverse operation. Our aim is to ensure that everyone who contributes gains from the investment they’ve made. We recognise that is going to be a huge task, but we are committed to delivering value to everyone who supports us.

The pages of this industry news and resources website contain a great deal of detail about what we’re doing, how levy payers and contributors benefit, and what you can do to maximise the opportunities created by the BID for your own business.

The BID money is only used to create new marketing, press and promotional campaigns. None of the money collected is used for BID administration or associated salaries.

You can read all about BID’s and the WIGHT BID by going to the Wight BID home page now by clicking on this link. 

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