It held a consultation exercise yesterday with vital members of the industry, to get their thoughts on the direction of any future strategy. It was led by the Chair of the Board, Hannah Beacom, who was also joined by several members of her new team, including Clare Crowson, Charlie Walker and Keith Beecham. 

Ms Beacom first updated the attendees about the work the Board has done so far: 

Work to date 

The Board has already held two meetings and agreed a framework for its work this year. It has met with the Head of Data Research and Analysis at the States of Guernsey, to devise various ways of data collection. 

“The first thing that we’re looking at is data collection,” said Ms Beacom, “so we have a baseline, so we know where we’re basing our strategy from.” 

Pictured: Ms Beacom is the Chair of the Tourism Management Board.

The Board has also met with representatives from the industry to help pull more data from the ‘frontline’ of hospitality and tourism. The group was asked what kind of data they already collect that they’d be happy to share with the States and “what data do you want to see published to inform the operations of your business/organisation?” 

It was this theme of co-operation that stood out during the entire event, with Ms Beacom stressing that the industry needs to work together to benefit the island.  

"There's been better reception from some sectors than from others, but I’m delighted that we have every sector represented in the room. I think that part of today is about building trust in the industry - what we want to demonstrate is that we’re looking to collaborate and we’re hoping that this will be the start of many such events.” 

Discussion 

Ms Beacom said there were several topics that were prominent during the morning’s debate, including marketing specific events, instead of just the island in general. 

She said: “The first [main takeaway] is that we’re providing a good experience, that’s the feedback across the room. We are marketing probably in the right direction. So, there hasn’t been anybody shouting loudly about gaps in the marketing strategy. "

Pictured: The workshop was split into various groups, each specialising in a certain industry.

“[Another takeaway is] that we need to work closer together and there could be some very quick wins if that happens – I have grouped everybody in tables together by sector and there’s been some very good discussions between those tables about how they can work together," continued Ms Beacom.

“For example: How could we work together to create products that could be marketed? There’s a Guernsey Literacy Festival, but is there a Literacy Festival Break? We want to see far more joined up thinking. 

“We do a lot of marketing on the beaches, but are we niching our advertising around events? Are we using technology to market ourselves and other businesses?” 

Politician-lite 

The event was notably focused on the industry, with comment and discussion coming from industry heads instead of politicians, despite the Board being created by a States’ committee. 

Ms Beacom said that was very much on purpose: “Today I wanted the focus to be on industry itself. I wanted industry to be critical if it wanted to be and I wanted to ensure the conversations were made by the trade about the trade."

This was welcomed by some of the attendees, including the CEO of Herm Island, Craig Senior. 

"We don’t get involved with politicians – we don’t see much benefit to be fair, it’s much easier to get things done avoiding that. 

“When [the Board] was originally launched, my initial thought was ‘not interested’ - purely because I based it on the historic boards and meetings I’ve been on and to, which were very political and ‘dog-eat-dog'. However, you’ve got the right people leading this and I was invited to come along and I’d come again.” 

The Board will report back to attendees next month. 

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