Latest news with #VisitJersey
ITV News
15-07-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Jersey visitor numbers plummet compared to 2024 as business group raises concerns
New figures have revealed a significant drop in Jersey visitor numbers compared with 2024. The latest statistics from Visit Jersey show a 24% decrease in visitors across May, with 53,000 people travelling to the island - 17,000 fewer than during the same period last year. This is mainly down to fewer overnight stays, although there were also 2,400 fewer day trips. From January to May, 71,500 people came to Jersey for leisure, almost a quarter down on 2024. However, there was more business travel with an extra 3,700 trips to Jersey. Tim Crowley from the Jersey Chamber of Commerce says the overall trend is worrying. He explains: "It is very concerning, and the concern now is that when we get into the winter, businesses rely on cash to get them through. "All the markets are down, I know Ireland is down 10%, so we are seeing similarities but we are down more, and we have to ask ourselves why and what we can do about it." Separate data from the Ports of Jersey also revealed a decline in the number of passengers travelling from Saint Malo. In April, the number of passengers from the French city was 24% lower compared to the previous year. In May, the decline was even more pronounced with a nearly 50% drop from 20,637 visitors in 2024, against 11,142 this year. Speaking to ITV News, Visit Jersey points to data showing the average length of stay increasing in the island, as well as surveys showing people are more likely to recommend Jersey as a destination. Operator DFDS took over the island's ferry service at the end of March 2025 and Chris Parker, Jersey Route Director, says: "DFDS remains committed to providing high-quality travel to Jersey, focusing on increasing visitors to the island and their customer experience. "Since we launched our services in March, we have introduced day trips between Jersey and St Malo, providing more opportunities for islanders and visitors alike to explore and enjoy travel across the Channel. "We have also launched our new inter-island service, strengthening Jersey's connection to Guernsey and ensuring there are convenient ways to travel between the two islands. "We are working closely with Visit Jersey and other partners to promote Jersey as a destination; we have a joint campaign with Visit Jersey, which will run through the summer. "We are also introducing new offers, including short break fares, which we are launching today."
BBC News
13-07-2025
- BBC News
Jersey Tidal Trail aims to lure visitors to island
A trail inspired by the South West Coast Path in England and Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way has been launched in Jersey Tidal Trail aimed "to showcase the island's stunning coastline, rich heritage and unique tidal landscape", said Visit trail, encircles the island and spans more than 48 miles (77km), includes "magnificent castles, secret bunkers and ancient headlands", the organisation hoped the trail encouraged repeat visits to the island and boosted spending at shops, hotels and attractions along the route. Visit Jersey said the trail was broken up into sections with four difficulty ratings - easy, moderate, challenging and expert - and there was no official start or end recommended walking in a clockwise direction to follow wayfinding guides more route is available on hiking apps Komoot and Strava.
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Visit Jersey's performance questioned
A Jersey politician has questioned the performance of Visit Jersey in light of falling visiting numbers and continued government from Visit Jersey released in June showed there were 35,200 visitors in April - a drop of 7,100 on last year, and in March, there were 26,200 – 1,300 fewer than the previous the States Assembly, Deputy Karen Wilson asked the economic development minister why visitor numbers were falling despite top up funding to Visit Jersey in to the BBC after the debate, Wilson said if "current performance levels continue then questions clearly need to be asked". Visit Jersey has been approached for comment. Deputy Kirsten Morel, Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, told the assembly that Visit Jersey would get a £2m investment this year and another £2m next who sits on the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel, said: "It's a lot of money... I mean £4m over two years which we will be keeping a close eye on. "I don't know if I have full confidence as yet, I'd like to see some more results. I think the quarter two return will be quite interesting to see."We do need to see if that pattern is reversing and if the money is being spent on the right things."One of the things I would be looking for is what are the ways and means Visit Jersey engaging with the industry across the island to try and broaden their scope to try and get off the clickbait type of approach, to try and get some real engagement and participation across the island." But Morel said: "I think it is really important to put it [the money] into one marketing organisation because then you end up with money that is dispersed and becomes ineffective because its too thinly spread.""I think Visit Jersey are doing a really good job marketing the island, so we know we have a lot of people looking at Jersey, the difficult is getting them to do the booking."Morel acknowledged that delays to picking a ferry operator had contributed to declining visitor numbers, but a lack of consumer confidence in the UK was also a said: "We are seeing other UK dependant markets have much lower tourism figures because of that, Ireland has a 14% decline in UK tourism, we have a 7% decrease in tourism in Jersey as well." Morel said another challenge was that Jersey was a high-price destination where the product was not always living up to said: "We need to work with the industry to make sure we have investment in our hotels, our retail, our attractions."That means when people look at Jersey, they can see value in booking here, and that's not always the case at the moment because the price is quite high and the product isn't always where it needs to be."
BBC News
27-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
French airline boss hopes new Channel Islands routes here to stay
The chief executive of French airline Finistair has hopes a new flight route will continue if a trial is will run flights every Friday and Sunday until the end of August as part of an agreement between the governments of Jersey and routes are between Jersey, Alderney and the Brittany city of Brest - providing direct air links between the islands for the first time in boss Loïc Andro, who was on the first flight with six passengers that touched down in the island earlier, said: "The team is really happy to land in Jersey." 'Historic link' Mr Andro said he believed the trial period would be a success."We've been working on this destination for a long time," he said."There's already been a lot of interest in the route from passengers."I hope that it's going to be here be all year long and for many years because of the historic link that we have in between Jersey and France."The flight time is about 35 minutes from Brest to Jersey, and 15 minutes from Jersey to Alderney, said the airline. Ports of Jersey said it was working with Visit Jersey to promote the new routes and had worked with governments to reduce costs for the operations director Ashley Maggs said the new connection between Jersey and Alderney was "incredibly important"."We do need support for these routes so we would like to see if we can encourage people to come to the Channel Islands for that long weekend away from Europe," he first flight to Alderney had to be cancelled because of thick fog over the island.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Visitor numbers in Jersey down on last year
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." 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." More news stories for Jersey Listen to the latest news for Jersey Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to Increase in visitors to island in 2024 - figures Rise in holidaymakers reported amidst funding call Visit Jersey Ports of Jersey
