Tourism U-turn?
Thursday 12th February 2009, 3:00PM GMT.
JERSEY Tourism’s visitor centre could be moving back to Liberation Square.
It might be part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of the former abattoir site. Environment Minister Freddie Cohen approved the designs last week for the area bordering Liberation Square and the harbour side of the Esplanade.
The plans include turning the old Tourism building into a gateway to the retail development. Tourism are considering creating a new visitor centre in the historic building bordering the square that housed it for nearly 50 years. However, no final decision has been taken.
If the information office did move back, it would mark an embarrassing U-turn for those who decided it would be better placed in the new Tourism building at the other end of Liberation Station.
• Picture: Part of the design which the Environment Minister has approved for the area bordering Liberation Square. Picture by Axis Mason
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should’nt have moved in the first place
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More disastrous looking buildings that Cohen has approved…
Considering he is environment minister he sure is approving lots of building which I am sure is not good for the environment…
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And all of Jersey went… “we told you so!”
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Anyone with any sense would have known that the entrance to the Tourism/Information office should have remained in Liberation Square – change is not always for the better!
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And who’s paying for this?
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they won’t pay woolies redundancy and they’re planning to waste a lot more doing this!!!!!!
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Here we go again – yet more wasted money. Enough is enough. We can’t afford to be making wrong decisions like this….
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Sounds like a much better idea and on the natural path of visiting tourists. Well worth swallowing a small amount of pride to move it back!
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Fully expected, another waste of tax-payers money. The original Liberation square was re-built, so why not re-do the expensive Tourist Office. However, I really wonder whether a tourist office is in fact needed. Perhaps we should have an emigration office for all those disgruntled islanders departing Jersey. Or even better, why not a big burning pit, where we can ask the States Members to throw the tax-payers money directly, that way we can speed up the waste of money, rather than continuing to waste it with frivolous and overpriced nonsense. Well done Cohen, “that’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into”.
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Definately move it back!!
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So Tourism Information started out in an iconic building by a square where it was incredibly easy to find them and a cinch to tell tourists how to find them.
They moved to an obscure office block that is hard to find and stuck on a busy intersection.
They are now going to move back to the building they vacated.
Will we find out how much this barmy exercise cost and will the people who thought it was a good idea own up?
Thought not
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The Tourism Office adjacent to a pleasant piazza, brilliant!
Just who has been playing musical buildings? More to the point, who will pick up the tab when the music stops?
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Oh, sorry forgot to mention that the lease signed on the current building does not expire until 2026 and the annual rent is £109,600 with reviews every three years. More and more the States representatives are looking like brainless wonders.
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is there something wrong with this drawing /artist’s impression?
i am sure that the gap between the old harbour office and the nice old tourism office is not big enough to accommodate the grey square box and two pedestrian walk ways.
or do i need my eyes tested?
if tourism were to move back and another states department gave up its rented office space and made a saving that would be a good thing.
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So what’s new, Tourism in Jersey hasn’t known if it was coming or going for the last 20 years…
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Kay, this is not about pride its about tax payers money been well over spent again and again and again.
Oh lets have a posh new building where we can put economic development and tourism! Then its … Oh lets move tourism back to where they were in the first place and sod the cash already spent on this stupid idea in the first place.
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The sheer incompetence of the people running this Island would be laughable, if it wasn’t for the fact that they are wasting millions of pounds on these crazy schemes!
I think they’re making a complete mess of the Waterfront/Esplanade area and the carpark should be left just as it is! However, it looks like they’re making it all up as they go along anyway, so god only knows what other monstrosities we’ll end up being stuck with over the next ten years!
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I too want to know how much this exercise is going to cost.
I say states spending should be made public with break downs of each expenditure. I want to know how my hard earned money is being spent.
States Bank balances should also be made public.
I have to be careful how I spend my money to be able to afford the food bill each week. So why is it that the States obviously have too much money too spend and are looking for the next scheme to waste money, which is our money.
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After all, they just realized that the best place for Tourism Office is where it was before – what a waste of money!!..So!.What is next?? States brainless, just think first before you do!!
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The best place for Tourism Office is where it was before!! Its just easy to find for tourists..
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here we go again but I’ll bet anybody the stupid chief officer who oked the move in the first place will actually get a pay rise for his forward thinking
prehaps there is a new game in town
which chief officer or Minister can waste the most money in a year becomes the next Senior Civil Servant…..can anybody do anything right????
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Ah-ha! This thread answers my head scratching moment earlier in the week! I was walking the dog and decided to take a walk to the Visitor Centre to see where it was. I was left totally confused when I was met with what looked like a scabby building site inside where the Centre used to be! Obviously I had missed the change of place in the news. Being a Jersey resident I don’t need to go to the Tourism centre often.
I would never have thought to check right over the other side of the old abbatoir site, so how would a tourist??!!
Jersey gets funnier everyday, saw someone say on a comment the other day
‘Come to Jersey-Where everyday is April Fool’s Day’. They weren’t wrong!!
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they should be sacked not the first blunder they have made obvious not incompinent enough to keep a seat in states they have plenty of big ideas in our small island,no wonder we have to pay GST on everything to rectify their blunders-you really could,nt make it up
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This is all very well & good having these “boring”
arguments about “boring” & repetetive issues in Jersey but those in charge or the little gods as there effectionatly known are missing the point day in & day out. As were lacking in any serious character, mountains, fields of corn, strings of vineyards and sunflowers etc,there is “nothing” to entice visitors here. There is no entertainment for Adults children or any other member of the family! The ongoing argument that Jersey is backward is proven by the fact that it had more to offer in the 1970,s than it does in 2009! People here are “full” of attitude and that may arguably stem from anger and frustration in an existence thats about as interesting as Jersey must have been after the second world war.
What is the crime about having fun???
Is it any wonder that the number one question in Jersey is where do you work? and dont park here.
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Just as a side issue – in the picture above – what on earth is that ugly grey blob of a building supposed to be sitting neatly between the two historic granite ones?
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No surprise here, another waste of our money at a time when we can least afford it. Given that the state have already killed off tourism as an Industry my view is that they should stay where they are and lump it. They have already failed to deliver so why should we waste any more money.
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Beggars belief … make the people who approved the original move pay for the whole mess themselves. If it wasn’t such a pathetic waste of taxpayers money you could have a good laugh. Considering how much we are paying in tax, I’m not laughing.
States Members please note … you are elected to serve the interests of the people not the interests of yourselves and your friends. What goes around (eventually) comes around and our patience is wearing very thin!
Stop ruining this beautiful island in the name of profit and political expediancy!
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The new building should of been right next to the round about by the underpass. Any tourist in a hire car from the airport would of spotted it and any tourist coming from the ferry would of spotted it. How on earth anyone thought it would be a good idea to hide the damn thing around the corner where it is now is beyond me.
Not only that, but the new tourism building is far more attractive than the rubbish that is currently on the round about.
Surely it must take a lot more effort to get it so wrong, than it is to get it right.
Time and time again, the people in office put shame upon us. No wonder the rest of the world sees us as a bunch of muppets. Honestly!!!!
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Tourism as we knew it in Jersey is dead ducks ville and has been for the many years the tax payers’ money has been wasted on it. We most certainly do not need an ivory tower tourism office, a little wooden kiosk at the airport and another at the docks would suffice. The punters that now come to Jersey mainly do so for other reasons than than a flash tourist office. Tourism is firstly all about hospitality the punter firstly needs to meet a cheerful intelligent person, secondly it is a business which needs needs proven successful people to run it and thus fill the tax payers coffers with money. We are very fortunate to have still some brilliant hoteliers still trading and only through their own entrepreneurial spirit.
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maybe its the first time that tourism has used the words “declining visitor numbers” now just how many people work there on say over £40,000 ? And how many were working there say 10 years ago ?must be lots of people doing very little for their money ?
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the front line staff at tourism are nice pleasent people, the ones who meet our customers, the ones upstairs are polite to me , when i am in there
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I do find the front-line Tourism staff are cheerful intelligent people.The people in Tourism probably do the best job of the whole department i.e. the front-line staff!”
We do have brilliant hoteliers trading in 2009 but for many years we had a lot of people who took money out of the business and failed to re-invest hastening their own demise.
Back to the point in hand – the original Tourism building was a mess, cold, a rabbit warren of offices and difficult to communicate behind the scenes. I doubt it would have passed an upgraded fire safety check and would certainly have been costing a fortune in energy bills. having said that, it was an incredibly short-sighted decision to move it. I believe there has been a 40% drop in visitor numbers to the department which will be affecting the potential customer base of everyone involved in the industry.
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Why oh why….we don’t have any tourists because the island is too expensive!!!
I remember speaking to a couple one year who won a weekend trip to Jersey, but had to find their own spending money. It cost them almost £5 for 2 small glasses of coke. They reckon they spent more on going out than they saved on the accommodation they won!!!
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my point above was they were worse off for “winning” this holiday and would have preferred to have spent the same money somewhere hot….and for a longer vacation!!! (in case I didn’t explain myself properly)
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whats in jersey now for the average tourist ? no entertainment left for visitors, overpriced pubs and restaurants, just a handful of quality hotels left now and that equates to little choice. Add to that the sometimes appaling weather in the height of summer and its a no brainer that the average u.k tourist is looking for something which gives them better returns for their money.
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i do need my glasses checked there is room between the old harbour office and the old tourism building .
what about a youth club or youth centre?
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