Tourism in the Isle of Man Tourism in the Isle of Man Tourism in the Isle of Man refers to the tourism industry of the Isle of Man, which has been an important element in the economy for over a century. In the early days visitors were mostly richer British families. Key for the development of the sector in the Victorian Era was the introduction of ferry connections with steamships between Liverpool and the Isle of Man, the Isle of Man Railway, and the Victoria Pier in Douglas. Later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the island was the destination for working-class families, mainly from
History of the Isle of Man possession of the Scottish and then the English crowns. Since 1866, the Isle of Man has been a Crown Dependency and has democratic self-government. The Isle of Man effectively became an island around 8,500 years ago at around the time when rising sea levels caused by the melting glaciers cut Mesolithic Britain off from continental Europe for the last time. A land bridge had earlier existed between the Isle of Man and Cumbria, but the location and opening of the land bridge remain poorly understood. The earliest traces of people on the Isle of Man date back to the Mesolithic