IT obviously comes with the job, but the Economic Development Minister exudes confidence when talking about Jersey’s economy.

He was on the radio recently claiming that the Island was experiencing an ‘economic renaissance’.
Certainly his department is making huge strides and at last the Island seems to be getting to grips with helping to foster economic growth.

But does this renaissance include tourism? The Minster obviously thinks so. He said that a few years ago no-one would have expected the numbers to be as good as they are now.

That might be true because up until quite recently a few people were expecting the whole industry to collapse. When the Minister took over, the number of staying visitors had been falling relentlessly for ten years.
In 1997 the Island attracted just over 590,000 staying leisure visitors.

Apart from a slight uplift in 2004, that figure fell every year to 2006 when a record low of 368,160 was recorded. Last year saw a 2.1% increase, but that’s only an extra 7,700 visitors.

It looks like there might be a similar increase this year. Staying visitors increased by 1.7% in the first half of the year, an extra 2,700 people. More people arrive in the second half of the year, so if there’s a similar increase for the rest of the year, the total would come to about 382,000.

That brings us back to where we were in 2004. That’s not much of a renaissance. These are very crude figures, of course, and the important measure is how much these people are spending in the Island, which may or may not be more than they used to.

But the increase in volume could be wiped out by the continuing decrease in the length of stay. In the first half of 2007 both bed and room occupancy were also down compared to last year, although some sectors of the hotel industry fared better.

The latest arrivals figures show an improvement in the number of people using the airport, but we don’t know how many of them were tourists. Total arrivals by land and sea between January and August were up 2.8%. Arrivals by air were actually up nearly 6%, but sea arrivals were down 2.8%.

Surprisingly, in view of the additional ferry companies on the route, sea arrivals from France were down 1.6%.
So the picture is patchy, and we may be a little premature to call it a renaissance as far as tourism is concerned.
There are plenty of positive signs. There is an enormous amount of investment going into hotels, and not just at the top end which was beginning to look quite crowded.

The transport picture looks quite good, particularly by air, although the August figures showed no growth in Gatwick traffic (perhaps they had switched to Heathrow where there was 24% growth so far this year, but that’s only an extra 5,000 passengers).

The picture at the harbour is not so good. Arrivals from Poole and Weymouth were down at the end of August (a loss of 2,500 passengers, presumably mainly tourists) and only Portsmouth showed a slight increase of 181 passengers.
Another encouraging sign is the number of new companies providing things for visitors to see and do. It used to be near impossible for visitors to experience a trip to the Ecrehous, for example. Not any longer.

But there are some less than encouraging signs. Much emphasis is placed on event-led tourism, but there is not much evidence that we are having any great success in this area.

We’re supposed to have three – or is it four? – major events during the year which not only keep tourists happy when they are here, but actually persuade them to come here in the first place.

There’s the Battle of Flowers, but frankly this is showing signs that it has reached its sell-buy date at least as far as tourism is concerned. Then there’s the International Air Display, which is obviously struggling with costs, and the Fête dé Noué, which is a good idea put on too early in the year to attract many visitors. The rest of the tourism calendar is filled with walks (nothing wrong with that) and events, some of which are more interesting to visitors than others.

Unfortunately we sometimes forget that we are in a hugely competitive market, and believe that Jersey will simply attract visitors because it is Jersey.

Jersey’s obvious natural attractions are just the start. There has to be much more emphasis on providing tourists with a quality experience which is different to what they can get anywhere else. There needs to be much more investment if Jersey is serious about having a thriving tourism industry (and it should be).

So perhaps it all comes down to money in the end. We have the investment in hotels and transport, but we need more investment in attractions, festivals and events. We also need more investment in attracting people here in the first place. The current marketing strategy may have helped to stop the rot, but it can hardly claim to have produced that renaissance we’ve been hoping for.

Perhaps the new Public Private Partnership will help to focus attention on what needs to be done. The idea is that a Jersey Finance-type organisation will take over the promotion and marketing of the Island. This is supposed to be approved this year but we haven’t seen any sign of it, so it won’t be up and running in time to have any influence on the 2009 season.

Proposed tax relief for tourism sector developments was also due to go to the Treasury Minister by the second quarter of this year, but there’s no sign of that either. So unless the existing marketing campaign can have a much more significant impact than it has had to date, we can only realistically expect a further modest improvement in tourism business next year.

Renaissance it is not, but then no-one expected it to be easy.
Peter Body is editor of
Business Brief magazine