Ferry feedback bad for island
I HAVE become concerned to read several letters from the UK in the Guernsey Press over the last few months that have been sent by tourists complaining about their experiences on the Condor Liberation.
We all know that if people experience a bad restaurant only a few will bother to raise this direct with the chef – most just don't go back and tell their friends to avoid the restaurant.
In the same way, only a few tourists will bother to write to Guernsey and complain in the local paper. We can therefore assume many hundreds or even thousands of tourists will just not bother to come back to Guernsey – the loss of this business could cost Guernsey's tourist business £100,000s.
In a restaurant you don't need to have been given food poisoning to suffer bad service and poor food. Likewise, just because the ferry doesn't sink doesn't mean that you have a good experience – seasickness, unreliable sailings, poor service and soaking cars in spray will also cause passengers to not bother to come back.
There is no smoke without fire ... and in this instance our States need to insist that Condor Ferries deal properly with this problem – which unfortunately probably requires a new ferry.
D. WALSH,
The Lawns,
Les Landes,
Les Baissieres,
Castel,
GY5 7RA.
Editor's footnote: Helen Day, corporate communications manager at Condor, responds: 'Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to your reader's comments.
I agree with your reader that a reliable ferry service is important for Guernsey's tourism industry and am pleased to say that this year, bookings for travel on Condor Ferries to Guernsey have increased by 6.5% compared to the same time last year. We see this as a good indication that the majority of visitors to the island are happy with the service being delivered by Condor.
Condor Liberation is a state-of-the-art ferry that is well suited to providing the Channel Islands with high-speed ferry links to the UK. Having overcome the problems experienced in the early days of her service, Condor Liberation has transported many thousands of passengers to and from the island. Importantly, the vast majority of the feedback we have received since normal operations were resumed has been positive.
We believe that Condor Liberation represents the future of sea travel for the Channel Islands, creating a fast and comfortable alternative to air travel. Since she entered into service, we have acknowledged and apologised for the operational disruption that affected her early sailings and have worked hard to rectify these problems.
I am pleased to say that Condor Liberation's performance continues to improve. To date she has completed 94% of her permitted sailings and over two-thirds of those sailings have been on time. I can assure your readers that everyone at Condor will continue to work hard to improve these figures.'
