Tourism lifts off!

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Almost 2 million people have come to Jersey already this year and the head of the Island’s harbour and airport says that he is expecting even better figures for the last few months of 2014.

Up to the end of September over 1.8 million passengers were flown or ferried in to the Island – a big improvement on the last couple of years, and a welcome boost to the troubled tourism and hospitality industries who have been going through a bad patch for years.

Jersey Airport has welcomed over 1.14 million air passengers, up more than 3% on the same period last year. The busy summer months saw almost half a million passengers come from over 48 departure points across the British Isles and mainland Europe but it’s the London market that’s doing particularly well, thanks to more daily flights.

The Ports of Jersey’s Group CEO Doug Bannister said: “This summer Jersey has once again been well served by an impressive range of departure points and destinations, which demonstrate that if direct air links are made available and the prices are appealing then residents and visitors will take advantage of them. Fortunately, this year we have not suffered from too many disruptions in terms of inclement weather and any great loss of air routes, which has helped to maintain our passenger numbers. We are therefore hopeful and quietly confident that these figures will continue to rise through the remainder of the year and exceed our route development target of +2.5%.”

With 860,870 passengers sailing in to the Island before the end of September, passenger figures are up 5% on the same period last year and up 8% on the year before although. There has been a slight dip in the numbers coming from the UK but the numbers coming from the other Channel Islands and France are on the up, despite Condor’s industrial dispute affecting figures for a while back in February as the company's French workers striked over pay and conditions.

Mr Bannister said: “Despite the disruption caused to sea passengers earlier this year as a result of the industrial dispute in France, which did impact on numbers, the French route has continued to improve since then and we are delighted to see an increase in this area.”

Jersey’s winter flight timetable starts on 1 November but the Island will still be served by 22 departure points and destinations and people can start thinking about next year’s holidays as the majority of summer 2015 air services are already on sale.