From route support, new events, and innovative on-island product, to PR activity, new campaigns and app development, we have plenty of exciting updates to share with you this month.
If you would like more information about anything in this newsletter, or if there is anything we can do to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the VisitGuernsey team and we will be delighted to assist you.
UK campaign update
Alongside our always-on campaigns, we have added several short, reactive campaigns in response to various trends, such as occupancy data, carrier data, ticket sales and breaking news or events.
These compliment the main campaign that runs throughout the year, which you can see here. Year to date, traffic to the VisitGuernsey website is up 2.5%, with referrals up 6.8%.
One of these reactive campaigns sees the St James Dance Festival, La Beltane Festival and Guernsey Together being promoted in Jersey via a campaign that was live throughout March, and which has been extended to mid-April. The campaign targets Jersey residents, encouraging the sale of tickets and associated accommodation packages. The creative can be seen below. To date, this has generated almost 1,300 click throughs to bookable packages.
Thanks to you sharing more information with us than ever before about your summer bookings, we are able to identify specific times that need an extra push – and with that in mind, we would invite you to send us July and August offers, targeting families who will be looking to take holidays during the school break.
We’re keen to get ahead of the curve, so please send relevant offers through to emily.queripel@gov.gg by the end of April.
Booking trends
VisitBritain data from February 2024 (downloadable here) shows that there is still a short-term booking pattern in those booking domestic trips. Of those surveyed, just over half had booked a holiday for the following month, while 28% had decided where to go but had not yet booked, and 15% were still deciding where to go. That continued into April with 37% having made a booking, 35% had decided where they wanted to go but not booked and 25% were still to decide where they wanted to go.
All of this demonstrates that even the month before a holiday, people know they want to go somewhere, but haven’t committed to where, presenting the opportunity for us to influence that decision and encourage them to choose the Islands of Guernsey.
Framework for the Visitor Economy
The Tourism Management Board has published its Framework for the Visitor Economy, which outlines strategic aims for the industry.
These aims include extending the season to maximise the shoulder months, continuing to improve data to better understand the value of tourism to the economy, and encouraging investment from both the States of Guernsey and the industry itself.
Long-term objectives are included in the framework and broken down into three categories; Productivity, Competitiveness and Stewardship.
Productivity
This category includes lengthening the season from the traditional April-September to generate year-round value, increasing collaboration across the industry, targeting younger and multi-generational visitor groups, and increasing the average length of stay and spend.
Competitiveness
This category includes safeguarding our bed stock, improving our tourism product, ensuring air and sea links provide capacity and capability, value for money and reliability, and providing an industry-wide excellent visitor experience.
Stewardship
This category includes investing in, and promoting, Guernsey’s unique heritage, developing, promoting and enabling sport events and Guernsey’s arts and culture offering, and considering other growth areas such as visiting yachts.
The framework also includes short-term aims and actions for 2024-2025; such as industry collaboration to ensure that tourism products and services align with the wants and needs of our target audience, recognising the importance of events-led tourism and exploit opportunities, ensuring that our air and sea links align with the needs of our target audience, and managing product development funding to support those private enterprises that demonstrate they can match our strategic aims.
If you’d like to read the full framework, it is available here.
Visiting Journalist Programme
Our Visiting Journalist Programme got off to a great start this year, with Ella Foote from Outdoor Swimmer visiting the Island from 5-7 March. Ella’s social media coverage of the trip was comprehensive to say the least, treating her 11,000 Instagram followers to no fewer than 97 stories, plus this grid post which summarised everything she loved about her time here. We’re looking forward to seeing Ella’s double-page spread in print and an online counterpart too, which we’ll share with you soon.
We have numerous other trips currently in the planning phase for spring and summer, the most imminent of which will see journalists from The Telegraph, The Scotsman and Confidentials grace our shores to experience carefully curated itineraries. We’re also hugely excited to welcome History Alice, who will be visiting over the Liberation Day period.
If you’re keen to support the programme by providing rooms, meals, tours, or activities, please let us know by completing this form and we’ll look into how we can best work together to secure more great coverage.
Travel Gossip
We are currently partnering with Travel Gossip to run a 4-week campaign on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) to their audience of over 17,000 across both platforms. Travel Gossip are a multi-award-winning travel trade-based media brand, which provides travel agents with information, access to networks, and opportunities to boost their travel sales. Each post (including reels and stories) will direct travel agents to a dedicated landing page on VisitGuernsey.com, with information about the Islands of Guernsey and an agent training toolkit.
French marketing and PR activity
Our French PR Agency, TQC, continue to support the promotion of the Islands across Paris, Brittany, and Normandy, spotting PR opportunities and helping us build the Visiting Journalist Programme. Final touches are being put to the first group trip, scheduled for 12-15 April, which, as a reminder, will see us welcome journalists from top French publications such as Grazia (web: 3,920,819 monthly visits), The Good Life (web: 89,834 monthly visits) and Paris vous aime (print: 262,500 copies).
TQC are also supporting conversations with television channel France TV, the French equivalent of the BBC, who plan to come to the Channel Islands to produce a 110-minute special, due to air in 2025, focusing on heritage and the stories of local people. We are currently working with Guernsey Arts and Guernsey Museums to collate a list of suitable stories and will keep you updated as this progresses.
In addition to generating coverage through our journalist programme, other strands to the marketing strategy include communicating with consumers directly via our database. Last week we sent out a mailer to our French consumer database, promoting the new direct Paris route and the resumption of Manche Iles Express crossings from Granville, Carteret and Dielette.
From early April, we are also launching a significant co-fund campaign with Condor France, targeting people in western France and Paris. Running from April to June, we’ll be using Google Ads and Meta to promote the Island’s natural beauty, our culture, and our connections to Victor Hugo. The main aim of the campaign is to raise awareness and tempt those looking to book a spring/summer break. We estimate that up to 20 million people will see our ads.
German activity update
In addition to the existing German charters currently being operated by Rolf Meier Reisen (the first of which is scheduled for 11 May) our German PR representative, Augsburg-based Scott Crouch, has been tasked with a programme of work for 2024 that primarily focuses on increasing seasonal and/or charter routes direct to Guernsey from Germany.
We have had initial discussions with Globalis, Prima Reisen, Dertour, and Wolters Tui, as to what’s needed both commercially and logistically to re-establish a partnership. With most tour operators commencing their 2025 planning during April, this is perfect timing.
We will update you all shortly on how this is progressing.
Trade Development
Our team are continually reaching out and engaging with new tour operators, and we are delighted to have built two fantastic new relationships.
SwimTrek, the world's leading provider for open water swimming holidays, will be visiting Guernsey in July to take part in an Island swim. Every year their team take on a new challenge and we’re delighted they are heading to our shores after we pitched the Islands to them as a great location for a swimming adventure.
After the challenge, which starts at the Bathing Pools, their product development manager will visit other swim locations and accommodation providers, with the aim of programming a Guernsey break to their customers. You can find out more about SwimTrek here.
We are also delighted to announce that flight-free operator Byway has launched their first package to the Islands of Guernsey. They focus on sustainable travel using ferries and buses, as well as local businesses and accommodation, to create a customisable trip that is fairer for people and the planet.
The VisitGuernsey team spotted Byway on Instagram, and as their company ethos clicked with us, we wanted to make sure our Islands were on their radar. The slow travel expert has introduced a 7-day itinerary, encouraging travellers to escape to the British Isles this summer. You can view the itinerary here.
Cruise update
A Cruise Steering Group has been established to address some of serious concerns expressed by industry around the operational issues we are facing and the loss of cruise business (in particular the larger liners), and to work together to find solutions. This group includes political representation, along with officers from Economic Development, Ports and STSB.
Our CruiseGuernsey representatives, Amanda Johns (Cruise Business Development) and Mark Renouf (Cruise and Surveys Operations Pier Manager, Guernsey Ports) will be attending the Seatrade Global exhibition this month in Miami, reassuring cruise delegates of Guernsey’s ongoing commitment to the cruise industry and the efforts we are going to to solve the challenges we are being presented with.
CruiseGuernsey has a stand within the Cruise Britain pavilion and both Amanda and Mark are looking forward to meeting various executives to hear about their latest strategy developments and to update them on Guernsey’s shore experience offering.
74 cruise ships are scheduled to visit during the 2024 season, and we are pleased to see nine new cruise ships making their inaugural visit to Guernsey this year. We look forward to seeing the Hanseatic in our waters on 7 April and welcoming plenty of new visitors ashore. You can view the full cruise schedule here.
Following the success of our cruise rep familiarisation trip in 2023, plans are in place to host another this May. Last year the reps enjoyed a full itinerary that included local tour attractions, activity providers, transport providers and island-hopping shore excursions, historical and cultural visits, cliff walks and sampling some of Guernsey’s most popular restaurants.
This year, we’re looking forward to showcasing the island once again, giving attendees the chance to taste our fabulous food, step back in time with our history and heritage, and enjoy a spot of island-hopping.
Ambassador scheme
The Tourism Management Board and VisitGuernsey are delighted to announce a new Ambassador training scheme for The Islands for Guernsey. 15 ambassadors have been selected to best represent visitor-facing services and industries, from Ports and taxi drivers, to retail and hospitality.
Initial training will take place soon and, once complete, these ambassadors will pass on their skills and knowledge to their sector. We want to encourage as many Island ambassadors as we can, to ensure the best possible visitor experience from the moment people arrive to the moment they leave.
The ambassadors will develop an agreed customer charter and level of service that we should all strive for, so that all visitors experience the same warm welcome and standard of quality. They will also learn how to coach the next tier of the ambassadors so that we can continue to pass on these skills within the industry.
The VG app: our new heritage routes
A primary focus for us this year and next is History and Heritage, given we have the 80th anniversaries of the D-day landings and Liberation Day respectively. We’re therefore excited to launch new product in the form of five self-guided heritage themed routes as part of a new WWII Occupation Trail.
The routes, which will launch in April, and which comprise three walking routes, a cycling route, and a driving route, can be followed using the VG app. The app also highlights nearby businesses to visitors, enabling them to pop in when passing.
The routes will be complemented by information boards, installed at areas of significant historical importance across the Island, to help bring to life the stories and memories shared by residents during the Occupation, as well as local guides, and history experts. We’ve worked closely with Festung Guernsey and Guernsey Museums to create the boards, which share some new lesser-known tales from the war.
To launch the routes, we’ll be sharing video content across our social media channels, and we’ll also be including the routes as an activity within the itineraries of visiting history journalists, to continue promoting and developing our new heritage products.
Lastly, we’ve also worked with the Liberation Route Europe Foundation, a transnational memorial trail, to share these trails further afield, and engage with their heritage-based audience.
Guernsey Tourism Partnership AGM
We’ll be attending the Guernsey Tourism Partnership AGM this evening, to give a short presentation on our current marketing and our plans for the rest of the year. We look forward to seeing you there, for some good networking opportunities and for a chance to discuss what’s happening in the tourism industry.
Boarding Permits and Occupancy Survey
Lastly, we’d like to remind you that all boarding permits expired on the 31 March, so if you intend to accept paying visitors between now and 31 March 2025, please renew or apply for a new permit via the portal as soon as possible. It is a legal requirement to hold a valid boarding permit.
Thank you to all those who have already submitted your renewal application; please be assured that your permit will be sent via email in due course.
One of the conditions of holding a boarding permit is the requirement to provide your occupancy stats, which are requested monthly via the Accommodation Occupancy Survey. We really appreciate your cooperation in completing this promptly every month, as it helps us forecast occupancy for the whole island and respond with reactive marketing to help support periods where numbers aren’t where we’d like them to be.
If you don’t currently receive the survey, please kindly send your accommodation name and email address to jo.dyer@gov.gg and we will add you to the database. Your data is confidential and is used purely to enable us to target marketing for the benefits of the sector as a whole.
As always, we are on hand to help and support in any way we can, so if there is anything that we can help with, please do get in touch.
With thanks, the VisitGuernsey team.
