‘Cheaper travel needed to build on tourism marketing’

Guernsey Hospitality Association vice-president Jamie Le Friec was speaking after Tripadvisor published good news for the island in its seasonal travel index, where Guernsey featured three times in the top 10 trending domestic travel destinations for British tourists.

While interest in the ‘towns’ of St Martin’s and Castel might stretch credibility, Mr Le Friec said the report at least indicated that the island was of current and relevant interest as a destination.

‘But whether the trend converts to actual bookings once they have checked availability and prices of accommodation and cost of flights is another thing.

‘Clearly there is some level of bookings in all those lovely well-run hotels, it would be more interesting to see a turn-away report or percentage take-up, in relation to trend.

‘But on the face of it, it is a wonderful thing and perhaps tells us that interest has been generated by a more social media approach to our marketing by Mary Putra and the Visit Guernsey team in the last few years.’

He also cited the Island Games as a possible reason for the spike in interest.

However, he said the GHA’s overall view on cost-prohibitive travel was borne out in statistics.

‘Up until June 23 we were 86,000 passengers down on 2019, our last real uninterrupted trading year, and there are fewer people using the airport than 25 years ago, before the rebuilding of the terminal which was expected to be able to handle 1.25 million passengers on completion.

‘Until the end of June 23 we have had 320,000 passengers, but this will be better in quarter three with the Island Games.'

Mr Le Friec added that air fares were also a notable barrier to converting interest, but remained hopeful the issues could be sorted out.

‘There are 33% less flights available than in 2019, and losing the jet, which holds 122, and replacing it with an ATR which holds 72, means our capacity is further reduced on each rotation.

‘Hopefully we can get all these things rectified and aligned to enjoy terrific conversion on all the goodwill and good marketing that is there for our fantastic product.’

Three Guernsey 'towns' in top 10

GUERNSEY took three of the top 10 spots in a list of the fastest growing domestic travel destinations for autumn, according to Tripadvisor’s seasonal travel index.

St Peter Port placed third in the list, with Castel fourth and St Martin’s fifth.

Porthallow in Cornwall took top spot, with Hayling Island in Hampshire in second place.

Mr Le Friec said that, while he was pleased at the three parishes’ appearance in the list, he questioned Tripadvisor’s algorithm-based set-up in compiling the rankings.

‘Nobody from Tripadvisor seems to have put together that the parishes are in the same place, and all need the same travel components to get here to covert that interest.

‘But if interest levels are currently up about Guernsey it is a really good thing.’

TripAdvisor’s top trending domestic destinations

1, Porthallow, Cornwall

2, Hayling Island, Hampshire

3, St. Peter Port, Guernsey

4, Castel, Guernsey

5, St Martin’s, Guernsey

6, South Queensferry, Scotland

7, Corton, Suffolk

8, Abergele, North Wales

9, Gosforth, Lake District

10, Chard, Somerset