Tourism deals launched after drop in visitors

Jersey's tourism promoter has launched offers on hotels, flights and ferries to entice more people to holiday in the island, after a drop in visitors last year.

Visit Jersey has launched a new web page with deals for tourists and begun advertising more in the UK, including in London underground stations.

Latest figures for the year up to October found 424,400 people had visited the island - 93,300 fewer than the same period in 2024.

Christopher Peach, general manager of the Radisson Hotel, said he embraced the initiative but added: "Unless we are proactive ourselves, nothing's going to change."

Visit Jersey said its new slogan sold Jersey as a "tiny island bursting with experiences" and a "warm welcome".

CEO Tricia Warwick said there had been more than sixteen million views on its new advert, which showed the message was getting through.

She said: "The other search that always interests us is people are just looking for Jersey - they haven't seen the campaign but they're just searching for Jersey, or maybe they've seen the campaign and now they're searching for Jersey."

Visit Jersey's survey found more than 8% of visitors came to Jersey because of the reboot show Bergerac.

The first episodes came out in early 2025 after the government contributed more than one million pounds to try to boost tourism and make money from international sales of the show.

Warwick said the detective drama was "having an impact" and hoped it would continue to do so in the future.

Josh Dearing from Seafaris, a boat trip company, said half its customers were tourists, so hoped the campaign would help tourism recover.

He said: "They've got a hard task in front of them - advertising is changing every single year.

He added he thought the new offers were "going to be very beneficial."

The Chamber of Commerce said it hoped the new campaign would help tourism recover after a difficult 2025.

Tim Crowley, from the organisation, said the strategy of working with airlines and hotels was good: "The ferry company has settled into it, we have tickets on sale for six months longer.

"I would expect probably a 20% growth in the ferry passenger numbers."

He added he thought "Loganair is a big plus for us" due to its "value for money" and infrastructure "because they fly to a lot more places."

Crowley added that the new Amsterdam routes presented "a big opportunity if it's embraced".

Christopher Peach, general manager of the Radisson Hotel, said he welcomed the new initiative but said it was also down to the hotels to opt-in to the offers.

He said: "I think we are responsible to ensure that our businesses are successful we cannot rely on Visit Jersey.

"Unless we are proactive ourselves, nothing's going to change."

Peach added that the team would love to welcome new and familiar faces to the island.

He said: "The team love to serve, which is why we're in the industry, to see the numbers come back obviously puts money in people's pockets.

"To see the island busy and to see the fruits of the labour... would be amazing."

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