Tourism figures for Q2 are a third lower than pre-Covid numbers
GUERNSEY’S tourism figures are moving in the right direction, but the second quarter of this year was still more than 30% lower than the last pre-Covid figures for the same period, Tourism Management Board chairwoman Hannah Beacom has said.
There was a total of 101,977 visitors, according to the latest travel and visitor accommodation bulletin, which was 33% fewer than the second quarter of 2019, which saw 152,462. Leisure was the main reason for the visit of 36% of these, while 14% were mainly seeing friends or family. There were 7% here for business reasons and 5% for other purposes.
People were quizzed at the ports as they departed the island, including residents, and that led to a total of 170,954 passengers recorded, about 25% down on the same period in 2019.
But it was higher than the 151,861 total over the same quarter last year.
Tourism Management Board chairwoman Hannah Beacom said the figures were a move in the right direction, despite being down on pre-Covid levels.
‘It’s about 10% up on the year before [2022] so from that perspective it’s positive,’ she said.
‘If you drill down into the detail of what’s been released the biggest shortfall has been in day visitors.’ This showed a 43% decline over 2019 levels, from 84,262 to 48,368.
‘When you look at the accommodation sector, their recovery is looking better compared to other sectors, but those other sectors are impacted by the weather.’
She said that the feedback she had received about the improved figures for campsites was that it was down to the island being quicker to get to than Europe, plus strong sales from France.
Visitors from the UK totalled 43% during the second quarter, with 6% from France and 5% from Jersey. However, the country of residence was unknown for the 37% who came here on a cruise ship or yacht.
Locals spent on average seven nights away from the island per trip during that time, with the main purpose given for most islanders travelling – 58% or 38,906 – being leisure.
Visitors spent an average of 4.7 nights in the island and the vast majority, 81%, had stayed in visitor accommodation with the rest staying with friends or relatives.
A total of 1,902 units of visitor accommodation were available for booking over the quarter and 56% of these were occupied in April, 67% in May and 81% in June, although such accommodation could be occupied by visitors or locals.
There was a success story in the quarter – camping, self-catering, guest houses and AirBnBs – which saw an increase in staying visitors compared to 2019 of 7% – 10,269 compared to 9,566.
More people travelled by air than sea, with just over half (52%) taking the plane and about a quarter (26%) going by boat and the remainder on cruise ships or yachts.
