The Ambassador Ambition, the first larger cruise ship of the season, arrived in the island on Friday morning, with hundreds of passengers heading into St Peter Port before the liner departed at about 6pm.
‘When we set up the business our target was the cruise market. It has been great today as we have been constantly busy,’ said Tim Bean of TukTuk Guernsey.
But it was ferry passengers who provided the biggest boost to the latest tourism figures.
Over the Easter weekend, 13,000 people came into the island through the airport or harbour, an increase on recent years, with arrivals by ferry from the UK and France up 63% on last year. Travel bookings overall are up 47% so far this year. The figures are a vote of confidence in the island’s ferry links with Brittany Ferries, while Jersey’s new operator DFDS has been hit by teething problems, and more French day trippers are choosing Guernsey.
‘That direct route changed everything,’ said Mr Bean.
‘I have noticed a lot more French cyclists who have come over on their bikes – be ready, the French are coming.’
Deputy Inder said it was ‘a good news story’ and increasingly clear that his committee ‘made the right decision’ when it awarded the contract for ferry services to Brittany Ferries rather than DFDS late last year.
He said that bookings for Islands Unlimited’s new inter-island ferry service were also doing well ahead of its launch next month.
‘Speaking to Chad Murray [Islands Unlimited chief executive], he is seeing substantial bookings for the start of his schedule, and what he is noticing is that it is a 50/50 split between people coming to Guernsey from Jersey and to Jersey from Guernsey,’ said Deputy Inder.
Most of the 1,188 cruise passengers on board Ambassador Ambition were British. Several said they were impressed with the island.
‘It’s been great and we want to come back,’ said Mr Kevin Moulton from Liverpool.
‘We had a wander around your town and tried some local cider and local beer which is all very good.’
June Birch from the Outer Hebrides, who was visiting Guernsey for the first time, had taken a bus tour of the island with Anita Preedy from the Wirral and Rita Critchley from St Helens. They met on the cruise.
‘It’s very different to everywhere else,’ she said.
‘We’ve done a bit of shopping and a bit of sightseeing. It has been a lovely day and great weather, too.’
Carrie O’Sullivan from Ireland was visiting with her husband.
‘It has been a lovely day,’ she said.
‘We went to the museum at Candie and my husband has been to the Castle Cornet. It is so pretty. We said we would definitely like to come back. It’s been the best stop of the cruise.’
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