Jersey visitor numbers down on 2024 figures
The number of people who visited Jersey in the first four months of this year was down compared to 2024.There were 35,200 visitors in April - a drop of 7,100 on last year, figures from Visit Jersey revealed.In March, there were 26,200 - 1,300 less than the previous year. Tricia Warwick, the chief executive of Visit Jersey, said it was a "small slump" but the figures were "disappointing".
In February, there was a slight rise in visitors of 1,100, with 19,300 people visiting the island.Ms Warwick said one of the reasons for the overall drop could be the recent change of ferry operator in the island.She said: "We recognised that [the ferry changes] would be the case. We had to prepare for the transition from one ferry operator to the other, particularly as it came so late in the day."
She said there were signs of optimism but the industry needed to focus on converting interest online into bookings.She said: "When we look at our marketing stats for Visit Jersey, they are up."More people are looking at our website, more people are investigating whether they should travel to Jersey, and then they are clicking on to hotels and attractions; but that business is not converting, they are not making the booking."
'Weaker figures'
Passengers who came through Jersey's ports were also down on last year. Figures from the Ports of Jersey showed overall passenger numbers from January to the end of May stood at 629,801 - a 7% decrease from 2024. The figures includes visitors, island residents and business travel. Airport numbers were similar to last year, with 524,450 people who came through the airport. However, the number of sea passengers in the last four months stood at 105,451 - a 30% decrease on last year.
Minister for Sustainable Economic Development Kirsten Morel said the figures were "weaker than we want them to be".He said: "It tells us we need to work harder to get the conversion of people looking at the island to turn into booking."We need to work with the hotel industry to get offers into the market to attract people to the island."
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