David Hornby (left) and Joss Croft Picture: JON GUEGAN (00826273)
JERSEY could become an event-led holiday destination in order to maintain significant tourist interest in the Island.
According to the man behind England’s 2018 World Cup bid, events such as the Red Bull Air Race should become part of the annual calendar.
Speaking yesterday at the Jersey Tourism Industry Conference, David Hornby warned that the Island is in a ‘challenging situation’ and must attract tourists by offering better reasons to visit.
He is working with Jersey Tourism to make the Island a destination known for its events.
Mr Hornby, who works for leading events promoter AEG Europe, said that the Island had to appeal to a wider audience.
‘Jersey is in a challenging situation and needs to find ways to attract new markets and audiences,’ he said. ‘You have to give people more of a reason to visit. Events can give another dimension to Jersey’s brand. The current brand is seen as quite safe and that has served Jersey well but, moving forward, there is a recognition that Jersey has to appeal to a wider audience.’
Article posted on 6th November, 2009 - 2.57pm
40 Article Comments
I dont believe it!
Dont change Jersey!!!my long suffering wife & i love the place with its endless entertainment and a promise of Cannon & ball featuring Russ abbott.
We “cannot” get enough of it and its 1950,s charm.
Still looking for the legendary upside down banannas that suppossed to grow on the waterfront though.
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great idea “the red bull race”, lets also have a good gokart track which would double for supermoto racing as well.
more sailing events, and get the powerboat racing back, and a round the island road race similar to the isle of man tt week.
promote golf, shooting, and cricket.
so long as the overburdened tax payer is not footing the bill.
the motor racing is more than likely of the menu as too many moaners.
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Why don’t we just continue to advertise it as VAT free and then con the visitors the same as we do the locals – sounds good to me!!!
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Floodlit football pitch on gasplace carpark.
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decriminalize cannabis
job done
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Living as I do in south London, I need no excuse to visit Jersey. Having struck up a friendship with a Jersey resident in 2006 I have visited Jersey nearly 50 times, either for a weekend or a week’s stay.
David Hornby is correct in saying that Jersey must offer better facilities to tourists and visitors.
Surely the nabobs of Jersey realise that there is a largely untapped market in the UK, comprised of people affectedy poor exchange rates. Jersey should play on the fact that it “is not quite France”, and that English is the most common language here.
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This will have some chance of success, so long as the events are organised by professional private enterprises, and not the States of Jersey, or its quangos.
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Does that mean we will now convert all the flats back to hotels?
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Forget the States of Jersey, the Island remains an attractive place to visit in spite of its hopeless Government. It is the lovely people and beautiful scenery that makes Jersey such a wonderful holiday destination. Events like the Battle of Flowers and Battle of Britain Air Display, are just icing on the cake. (No my head isn’t in a cloud….I am being positive for once – everyone on the Island should think positive about whats good in Jersey….there is a lot going for it)
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Lula 5.
Lula my dear, I think the idea is to attract ‘nice’ people not ganja smokers and marywarners!
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jersey needs to offer the tourist more.there are less attractions to visit.22 years of coming to beautiful jersey there is now only a few attractions left to visit.you need more to entertain the tourist then just beautiful beaches.i love jersey and cant wait till april /may to come over again.more events would encourage more tourists to the island.something must be done if you are to attract the tourists back.dont let your beautiful island slip into the unknown.
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If air travel was taxed like it should be, then the we could have boatloads of UK tourists again
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Ah the Red Bull Air Race! Well in the small amount of digging I have done on this subject, it would appear there isn’t anyone here ‘in power’ that has the power to make this happen. It would be a fantastic event.
Sadly it would appear ATC have given it an immediate thumbs down, it would take too much to organise – blah blah – safety issues – blah blah. Well they seem to manage to host it a quite a few major European Capitals without too much hassle.
The last race held in Barcelona attracted nearly one million people. That would be untenable here, but still its food for thought.
I would ask David Hornby to actually ask Tourism and ATC exactly what the issues are, and to find a solution. We have a large Air Display every year after all. Maybe its just the Jersey apathy creeping in again!
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David: “lets also have a good gokart track which would double for supermoto racing as well.”
2nd that.
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Karting/supermoto could easily have a place at the Fort.
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indoor ski slope at swimming pool site at the fort.
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Casino.
Simples.
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Born Warrior – think of the taxations! And i think the drunken tourists (and locals!) here are going to be a lot better than a bunch of ganja smokers.
Just confine it to you can only smoke in certain hotels and put those hotels in St. Ouen where they can’t hurt anybody (or get anywhere due to the bus service) They’ll get their smoke from town then go back to St. Ouen smoke it and pass out
it’s brilliant!
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“David: “lets also have a good gokart track which would double for supermoto racing as well.”
2nd that. ”
I’ll 3rd it!
As for RB’s Air Race, that would be brilliant, and I would have thought that by now this event would be well-documented and Jersey could get a lot of help with the organisation of it.
Of course, all it really needs is for it to be much cheaper to get here, then plenty of people could visit friends/relatives for a weekend and spend their money here. Indeed, if it was much, much cheaper to get here then we might all be surprised at how many people would actually come! As it is, coming for anything less than a week is rather a waste of money given the cost of flights.
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David and Whatever I will carry that motion unanmously ref a kart track that would double as a supermoto circuit , but i fear it may never happen ,too many people worried about the value of their lovely granite barn conversions , bring back Belle Vue !!!!
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#13 mistershifter. Are you asking the states/civil servants to be proactive? Everytime I deal with them the answer is NO, No and NO again, its their rule book.
Well actually, its not in the rule book, its just how “they” read it and that is through decades of careful manipulation of a negative culture.
But with the political system the way it is, how do we the people get the system to be proactive?
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Lula 18.
Lula, I’m for a drug-free world!
So I just can’t imagine Jersey as the ‘Land of Dope and Gorey’, with hordes of marywarners ‘tripping’ to the ‘Jersey Pottery’ under the impression that it’s a one-stop marijuana shopping experience!
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All these wonderful events would be cancelled due to our lousy weather!tourism is dead and thats it!should be advertising it as a drunk and drug haven full of disfunctinal people for what it is with seagulls sh****g all over the place.
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You need something like the Isle of Mann’s famous motorbike TT that is world reknowned.
Having something like the battle of flowers and the air display may be famous in our minds but hardly anyone in the UK has heard of them.
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What is it with people and the weather?
Jersey weather is fine. The majority of days are dry and you get nice long spells of sun around the time that people tend to take their summer holidays! And you have mild winters as well.
I didn’t realise that Jersey would have such a pathetic British attitude towards the weather but I guess it is the case.
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De-criminalise all drugs and bring in a 20mph speed limit.
Also we should develop St. Ouens into a major tourist destination like Las Vegas, with casinos and massive hotel complexes. We should turn the likes of Gorey castle into flats, no one goes there anyway.
I also think they need to build a motorway on the island possibly off shore if they need to. We should also have a nuclear power plant so we can be self sufficient.
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It may not be popular to say it but what we need is adult attractions.
Casino, Lap Dancing, Gigs and events of international significance.
All the rest is just dressing, if we had a casino and gentlemen’s clubs we would get more business conferences.
Las Vegas is full of business conferences and not for any other reason.
Get real Gorey Castle does not bring in tourists in any number, Jersey Live brings in lots of tourists.
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Rose Bead
Now now dear……run along.
Your comment cannot be taken in any other way than a bad joke.
A motorway (offshore?) and a 20mph limit in the same comment??? How contradictory!!
We know you liked your mushrooms but legalise ALL drugs…..are you using any now?
You may have finally lost your marbles with the idea of Las Vegas in St Ouen and a nuclear power plant
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Introduce professional sports teams…..football would be a good start. With the money in jersey it would be a great investment perhaps for a middle eastern billionaire to get Jersey to the premiership….think of all the crowds every weekend….and European matches? Even on the national stage, Jersey v Brazil in a friendly???
The celebrity following that would be attracted, media coverage etc, etc.
One can dream
In reality though, what about a nice huge, hi-tech aquarium….we are surrounded by water warmed by the Gulf of Mexico so we could have a natural one….with sharks and other exotic marine life. A comedy club, ice rink, artificial indoor ski slopes, theme parks, casinos, gentlemens (or womens) clubs, drive in cinemas…..the list goes on and on.
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Mrs. Rosemary Bead
Hi Rosemary, I could’ve sworn it was you at 5. and 18.
Are you related to Lula?
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Build an artificial reef (or many) like they have in bournemouth! its perfect for Jersey; it will produce better and more consistant waves, bring in more tourists in the summer and give us something to do in the winter. It will also spread out the many surfers accorss the bay instead of being cramped up in one or two spots (ie secrets and the splash!)
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Can’t think of as single reason why anyone would want to visit Jersey,too many cover ups and elitist attitudes!
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hell no – I am against a 20mph speed limit! I don’t smoke anymore (and that includes the “herbal” cigarettes as well lol) but I have been to amsterdam and they get a lot of tourists because of the decriminalisation of cannabis and yet the only troublesome tourists are the british drunks. I think there is this whole stereotype of “druggies” being dangerous and aggressive but people that smoke cannabis are not aggressive or stupid in fact talking to someone who is high on cannabis can actually be very intelectually stimulating – which is more than I can say for the drunken idiots that populate the streets of St. Helier every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night.
I do think we should re classify all substances based on the harm to the user as well as the harm to society. Alcohol would be a class A drug based on the amount of drunken fights, drink driving accidents not to mention its addictiveness. Jersey has more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in europe I’ve come across… what does that say to tourists?
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BS Deluxe we already have a comedy club it goes under the name of the Comedy of Ministers.
lula it isn’t just the cannabis that gets Amsterdam lots of tourists. I would say the other industry probably brings in more punters.
You are quite right alcohol and tabacco do more harm than cannabis but are legal for some reason.
How to get more tourists simple cut the stupid prices over here including air fares and stop all the hotels ending up as flats. If you give value for money you will get tourists.
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What’s this other industry in Amsterdam then Adrian?
The art galleries?
Surely you haven’t got anything else in mind.
If you have, perhaps you will support my plan to promote Jersey as a naturist holiday destination. I want to start jersey’s first nudist camp on some land I have in mind and would like to see a dedicated naturist beach.
Loud cries of ” We don’t like that sort of thing here”
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Just to say that the above post was from me, not an “RB” impostor.
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I thought we already had a nudist beach over here? I’m sure when I moevd over here in 1997 my stepdad told me there was one and there are people that go skinny dipping around green island!
and I surely hope there are no other lula imposters – i have only met one other person on this island that is nicknamed lula and they are 4 years old
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Jean Poole (no. 12) suggested “If air travel was taxed like it should be, then the we could have boatloads of UK tourists again”.
Jean, all air travel from the UK is already taxed – by the UK government.
So just how would your idea bring in more tourists? The ferries are often dirty, unpunctual and all too often cancelled. This is no incentive for mass tourism.
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Re #31: “Build an artificial reef (or many) like they have in bournemouth!”
Have you seen the artificial reef at Honeycombe Chine, in Bournemouth?
The waves I feel when I get an upset tummy are bigger than the Boscombe waves. The locals there are furious at the waste of money.
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Miro, it was cheap air travel to sunnier destinations that killed off our tourism, so it stands to reason that if that air travel was taxed for its environmental damage, then market forces would revert back to making shorter distance ferry trips more viable. I don’t believe it will ever happen, but it intrigues me as a remote future possibility
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