Plan to attract smaller cruise ships is scrapped

Tourism bosses said in February that they had started targeting smaller, high-end cruise companies after some larger vessels removed the island from their schedules.

But only 37,000 cruise passengers have disembarked so far in 2024, compared to nearly 80,000 in each of the previous two years, which itself was down from 115,000 in 2019.

The total number coming ashore this year is expected to fall short of 40,000 by the end of the season.

The shift to smaller, boutique-style ships was intended to attract passengers who would spend more in the island, but cruise operations manager Mark Renouf admitted that a different approach was needed.

‘We are now looking at having a mix of small, medium and large ships, rather than just concentrating on one particular size,’ said Mr Renouf.

‘We want to make sure there is continuity and a blend of different passengers with different spend abilities as well.

‘If you have one ship of 200 passengers, there might be high spenders, but then 3,000 spending a small amount each could exceed that.

‘It is about getting the right balance of attracting the right type of ships.

‘It’s also an opportunity for the island to sell itself as a holiday destination. We want to make sure we attract families as well and they tend to travel on bigger ships.’

Economic Development president Neil Inder recently told the States that a new steering group had been formed to help rebuild Guernsey as a destination for cruise ships. He also revealed that two major cruise line operators were lining up to return to Guernsey.

Mr Renouf told the Guernsey Press that they were AIDA and American Carnival.

‘AIDA are a sort of German version of P&O, and they are returning in 2026 with three calls, totalling about 8,000 passengers. We also have American Carnival, rather than Carnival UK. They are coming back into northern Europe and we’ve got them coming in 2026, with a 3,000-capacity ship. These are the large ships which have not been coming in this year. That is why the figures are dropping.’

Mr Renouf said bad weather had also affected the number of ships and disembarking passengers this year. More than a quarter of the 72 ships due to visit cancelled, including the 3,000-passenger Ventura and 2,000-passenger Aurora.

‘If those boats had come in, we would have been around the 69,000 figure,’ he said.

‘We’ve had a lot of cancellations due to some terrible weather which has absolutely knocked the figures down.

‘We are putting in a huge amount of work to make sure that the future looks bright, and are trying our hardest to encourage lines to visit.’