Guernsey Press

Locate Guernsey budget period ends on a high

INCOME generated from people moving to the island through Locate Guernsey hit a record high last year.

Published
Locate Guernsey's promotional pamphlet. (23781026)

The promotional agency yesterday reported that £1.148m. of benefit was returned to the exchequer from 24 relocations.

Just over £800,000 of income was provided by document duty from property purchases with a further £347,000 generated by the 49 new roles relocaters created.

2018 was the end of the initial three-year budget period for the agency.

The combined results for 2016-18 show that there was an estimated £3.412m. of total financial benefit for the States generated from 67 relocations. In total, 136 roles were created in that period.

Locate Guernsey, which is part of Economic Development, has a £1.2m. budget.

Its president, Deputy Charles Parkinson, said: ‘This is another positive set of results for Locate Guernsey and the island’s economy.

‘New businesses and individuals arriving in the island are supporting the open market, helping to diversify and grow our economy, and enriching our community with knowledge and expertise. As well as the multimillion-pound benefit for the States of Guernsey, their impact on the economy is wider. Relocaters are also sourcing services from local businesses in our construction, hospitality, financial services and other sectors.’

Jo Stoddart, director of Locate Guernsey, said: ‘It is thanks to the hard work of all the members of the Locate team since the agency was set up and all of our industry partners that we are reporting another record year.

‘The recent rise in open market sales and a positive rush of enquiries for January already suggest that demand is continuing for 2019. More and more businesses and individuals are coming to Guernsey for the fantastic lifestyle benefits and work-life balance that the island offers.’

There were 14 relocations from the UK, one from Canada, one from Switzerland, three from China, three from Hong Kong, one from Thailand and one from Singapore.

There were also 24 relocations in 2017, nine personal and 15 business, with £667,000 generated through income tax and document duty receipts.

Locate Guernsey could not provide the breakdown between personal and business this year, citing data protection.

It confirmed that there was a mixture of families, couples and businesses.