Could island tourism be on the rise?

Thursday 04 October 2018

Thanks to the success of the Guernsey Film, extensive work from Visit Guernsey and a season of good weather, the island's tourism industry is said to be on the rise again.

The annual official industry seminar was held at St Pierre Park Hotel yesterday, hosted by Economic Development and Visit Guernsey. The media weren't allowed to go in, but representatives from every facet of the island's industry were there, whether that be hoteliers or attraction companies like Outdoor Guernsey, attend, and give their feedback.

The main focus was on the statistics around the Guernsey film which was released in April. Economic Development President Deputy Charles Parkinson was reported to say visitor numbers off the back of its release will peak next year, but that is not to say there have not already been results. 

Tourism: require steady and modest rise in visitor economy. Benefit from #Guernseyfilm is real. 2017 steady improvemnt. 2018 Q1 not great Q2 looking A lot better

— tothevale (@tothevale) 3 October 2018

Speaking after the seminar had concluded, Deputy Dawn Tindall, Economic Development Committee member, said: "The average time stayed for a visitor in the last year has grown from approximately 4.1 days to 4.9, and that is really important, because it shows that people are coming for slightly longer.

"It is still all short term vacationing though, which is something we need to focus on. Short term visitors are not a bad thing, people are still coming, and we can still take advantage of the benefits tourists bring to the island."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society launched earlier in the year, with a local premiere taking place at Beau Sejour. Since, both Visit Guernsey and independent tourism industry businesses have reported a rise in visitors coming to the island. That is expected to continue next year.

A focus of Visit Guernsey since the launch of the Guernsey Film has been attracting US visitors because of the success of the book in the country. Deputy Tindall said they had been working with US tour operators to put Guernsey on their map: "that way people can come to the UK and then to Guernsey as an additional location to visit". 

Tourism: 420,000 visitors last year. Staying 5 days. Staying longer and value driver pic.twitter.com/6jOQ09epwF

— tothevale (@tothevale) 3 October 2018

Online traffic surrounding Guernsey has also grown by around 45%. Earlier in the year, Visit Guernsey launched a new website for the film, and have also made various marketing pushes including a takeover of the Daily Mail Online, all of which have contributed to the rise. 

Next week, Visit Guernsey are also expected to launch another new website to market the island as a short term holiday destination. 

All in all, Deputy Tindall said the annual seminar had been incredibly informative: "the entire hall was filled with people from the industry, which was excellent, and it was a very informative session with a lot of statistics shared.

"The key thing to take away was the number of positive messages we received - in future, we have got to focus on talking ourselves up."

Pictured: Some of the Visit Guernsey branding used to promote the island as a tourist destination.