£1m boost for tourism industry
Monday 10th November 2008, 3:00PM GMT.
UP to £1 million is to be injected into Jersey’s tourism industry to help boost dwindling visitor numbers.
The move comes after tourism officials held emergency talks last week following the loss of several airlines and a significant drop in the number of people visiting the Island.
EasyJet, BmiBaby, Bmi, Flybe and Thomsonfly have all cancelled or reduced the number of flights servicing the Island this winter, and in September Jersey suffered a further blow when HD Ferries cancelled all winter routes.
Both air and sea arrivals during that month were down 8.5 per cent compared to the same time last year.
The downturn has been blamed on the worldwide financial crisis. The money, which will come from the Tourism Development Fund and the Economic Development Fund as well as a smaller amount from the private sector, will be spent on marketing and promoting Jersey.
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The real problem for tourism is the continued support of high cost travel by individual ministers
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What a waste of time and money.
When will the members of the States and Tourism grow some brain cells? A massive recession in the UK, and Jersey is thinking of squandering money to get people to come and visit? With stupid prices on air fares? Totally hopeless……..
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The States should have started thinking about this several years ago.
The tourism industry was a tremendous support to our air and sea links and also kept a lot of attractions and shops going.
It’s decline will mean poorer services as passenger numbers fall and local businesses have to rely on just local custom.
Other finance centres realise that they have to offer quality of life as well as high salaries. Jersey is rapidly falling behind in this area.
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We love Jersey and visit 2 or 3 times each year.
There is no problem with the air fares. they are very cheap: I have just paid £38 each for return flights from Liverpool travelling Easter weekend! (the ferry fares, on the other hand are extortionate – more competition required!). Our main gripe is the cost and availability of accommodation when we get there: Jersey is the perfect family holiday destination but there is an acute shortage of good quality,reasonably priced self catering accommodation especially during the main holiday periods. When a fairly average apartment or cottage costs nearly a thousand pounds a week during the Summer holidays,it is not surprising many people give Jersey a miss.
When we extol the virtues of Jersey to other people (as we often do!) their first comment is inevitably “yes, but isn’t it expensive?”.
If you want more visitors to Jersey,you must make more effort to provide reasonably-priced family accomodation and market it in order to shake off this perceived expensive image.
See you in April and July 2009 (and possibly again later in the year).
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“The downturn has been blamed on the worldwide financial crisis.”
I agree, in part, but if those responsible had encouraged cultural heritage tourists, numbers might have risen. People interested in heritage tend to be older, children off their hands, have paid off their mortgage, etc. and take short breaks which do not depend on just the summer months. I have been trying to interest those responsible to market heritage tourism for Jersey with singular lack of success. Targetted marketing is necessary and heritage tour operators should be invited here to see the sites which date from prehistory to the German Occupation. There is so much of interest here which is not widely known about in the UK. Relying on the Tourism website is not enough.
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They should spend money on events and attractions, not marketing.
This would also help keep locals in work, as well as give tourists more to do when they’re here.
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As a frequent visitor to Jersey, first time in 1966, I must point out that Jersey is now a very expensive place to holiday. The GST addition has added a further burden. Also with the developers, supported by the States who only had eyes for the financial industry, making hoteliers offers that they could not refuse to convert hotels into unsellable appartments, has also not helped. Leaving a very reduced range of expensive hotels available.
Also take a look at the eye sore that is the Waterfront, it gives the wrong image to visitors looking more like a UK commercial Park rather than a tourist attraction.
Jersey Tourism is probably beyond help.
Andy Warren
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The promotion of return holidays for couples who came in the honeymoon era is a great idea; but most of the travelling public want something different.
In my market evaluation days I was told to look at the ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’ of the product and then to exploit the ‘opportunities’ whilst minimising the ‘treats’. For good or ill, Jersey has put all of its eggs in the ‘finance industry’ basket; things as expensive and visitors are looking for better value.
The Jersey tourist industry has gone the way of; quality stocking, cider, cod, shipbuilding, potatoes and tomatoes. Throwing a million pounds at a problem will not bring any of these industries back from the dead. The ‘industry minister’ needs to sit down and come up with something better.
Throw a million pounds into ‘green energy’. Tidal power used to produce hydrogen for fuel cells. Derrick Warwick may even set the ball rolling by promoting the Honda FCX.
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The government is a reflection of its people.
When you stop to think that one over it makes sense.
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Too little too late.
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Why should visitors from the U.K. visit Jersey when they can go to many other destinations at far lower prices and also be assured of much better weather? Even 20 years ago my family had a 3 week holiday in Florida for less than 2 weeks self catering in Jersey. As I have family and friends on the island I have been a constant visitor for 50 years, but over this time I have seen many changes, mostly for the worse. Even the “VAT Free” shopping is now a farce as with supermarket competition and discount stores most products are now cheaper in England.
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I fully agree with Sean , this should have been done a long time ago but I’m afraid that the powers to be did not have the forsight needed and to my mind still haven’t.
1 mil is far too little and far too late. The only way tourism will get back to what it was would be for a massive injection of cash from both the private sector and the states to bring Jersey up to a 21st century holiday destination.
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Tourism has been a dying industry in Jersey for many years. Demand will always determine supply and simply speaking if there is no demand who can blame the airlines for not providing the flights. If you want to stimulate demand, the price has to be right or you need to offer a product which will attract.
The cost of living in Jersey, inflation rising constantly by over 5% per anum, introduction of GST, the reduction of the VAT free environment, has priced the low cost consumers seeking the ‘no frills’ holiday out of our market.
So how do you attract a holiday maker? You have to offer something other places do not have. Jersey is expensive, so it immediately limits tourism to those who can afford it. So it makes sense to tailor your market to that niche. The only way I see tourism surviving is to create facilities for this niche.
We already have the marinas, the hotels and the restaurants. We just need the leisure facilities. The sooner Fort Regent is turned into a world class hotel/conference centre and casino the better it will be for the economy of the island.
It really only takes a few law changes in the UK for this island to fail so we must not rely on finance to bail us out for ever. UAE’s oil is running out, they know this so have turned to tourism to bail them out. Once your own money runs out, you need outside sources to fund the economy or it shrinks, simple.
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Not much sense in spending the money on promoting and marketing when reasonably priced air and sea services to the island have all but disappeared.
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When are people going to stop bleating on about tourism and the glory days of the 1950′s. People came to Jersey simply because they didnt know any better or didnt have any other choice. Greed has run prices up and left average standard accommodation. Please do not compare it as ‘world class’ – you only show you have never travelled.
Im sure Mavis and George will be back each year with their rapidly declining disposable income – but try and attract the new traveller? You can fly to Dubai for 300 pounds and stay in a world class resort for 80 pounds a night. Its a no brainer and one you need to accept. You can wander round ancient souks in guaranteed weather – or pay a fortune for a cream tea served by some poor East European who cant wait to leave his 3rd world accommodation and minimum wage. And you know it will be overcast. Move on and get on with whatever you need to do – but it is not a major tourist destination and certainly in 10 years tourism will be dead on its feet.
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Too right “Left the Island”. Excellently, and perfectly put.
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I agree with Left the Island. Besides, the few tourists who do arrive are met with roadworks and unsightly building sites wherever they go. Upwards of a £15 taxi fare to town which, if you’ve paid £38 for your return flights like John Sutcliffe, is extortionate. This island is ridiculous…..£1/2 a million for an average sized 3 bedroom semi-detached. I could live like a king with the same money in a warmer climate like Spain……and hopefully still might.
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Please spend the million wisely not just more adverts at airports in the uk. Dont get someone in to do a study that recomends you us the other branch of the same company, how about making lots of web content in German and French and Russian and all the other languages we want to atract. Oh and a few more flights from heathrow would be good. Finance is dodgy, farming is really dodgy its about time we worked on toursm
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This a crazy decision. Tourism is over. It has been for a long time. People used to come here because it was cheap. Now its not, people don’t come here. Simple.
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To left the island- I think you missed my point.
I have travelled the world extensively; in fact I have just returned from Dubai (having been there twice previously) where I stayed at ‘the one and only royal mirage, Arabian palace’, that my friend is world class. I did not (if you actually read my post again) say Jersey was world class.
My point was as follows- Jersey is expensive, to get here, to stay and enjoy oneself. The problem with Jersey is that it doesn’t know what market it is catering for.
It is still trying to attract all forms of holiday maker.
The simple fact is that you really can’t come over for a week and spend less than £1,000, so you have to tailor your market to attract those who can afford it. We are publicly labelled a millionaires retreat, but why do we not have all the facilities to cater for this market?
The sooner we get an identity and start to satisfy the needs of that type of holiday maker the better. Carrying on in the vain attempt we are surely is a waste of tax payers money, a drain on our resources and a waste for the tourism sector.
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I agree with you totally. The cost of going and staying in Jersey simply now dictates who will go there – and people with that money would prefer a little more sophistication and of course the weather. After 9 years in Jersey and now living in Dubai (I can suggest the Burj should your budget spread to that), I cannot understand its attractions to the ordinary holiday maker. The cost of food and drink, feral St Helier on a weekend, the lack of shopping choice and finding everything closed on a Sunday, the writing is on the wall. Throwing a million pounds at something that limps along each year, Im just glad I dont contribute my tax to that farce. Its just time to accept that this is not a viable industry anymore. In comparison to Dubai – who realising the oil was running out and aimed at tourism it really is a joke. Consolidate what you have left and ask the states to get a plan together. Certainly if had to walk my family through St Helier on a wet July evening watching the freak show that is the norm I would certainly consider the many other options that are now available in the modern world.
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maybe we should begin by making all our road surfaces a pleasure to drive on. Jersey used to be a smart place but now (despite the financial industry)it is looking poor and shabby. Smarten up and the tourists who can afford to come to Jersey may return.
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This money will just be wasted while the States continue to destroy the look of the seafront of St Helier. St Helier has the shops and with a nice seafront it was the best place to centre your stay, especially if you were car-less. Other places have the view but not the access to shops.
I was once a tourist and I feel that sinking the road and adding more office blocks will just make St Helier look like a city and not somewhere a person would go for a relaxing holiday. But it isn’t a city, so it wouldn’t draw in ‘city-visitors’ either! Even Dublin, London and Glasgow manage to have nice areas for tourists to walk along their rivers, but Jersey can’t seem to balance this at all.
Jersey has tourism and finance! Is it really necessary to destroy one for the other? Why can’t the finance industry be inshore? There is no need for it to be near the sea, it’s a place of work not recreation. Leave the views and the beaches for the tourists and get the ugly and/or functional office blocks inshore, far away from the tourists.
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Jersey has nothing to offer the tourist anymore. Nightlife is non existent, hotels have disappeared, car hire companies have largely gone and its now too expensive. Once for me this was a week long destination, sadly now I would seriously
question spending a weekend here it is so boring and although Im not a teenager anymore Im certainly not dead yet. A real shame tho as I used to look forward to coming to the island, sadly no more. St Helier is now just an eyesore its like walking around a downsized canary wharf, what kind of tourist wants to see that ?
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Furher I would say that evidence of this is the whats on in jersey guide that is usually handed out to all arriving passengers at the airport. In 1985 it was a fairly thick book, today it has about 10 pages in it! such a shame.
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