Tourists spend £97m in Jersey in three months

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Visit Jersey says a new Exit Survey it's introduced gives far more accurate information about who’s coming to the Island, why they’re coming, how long they’re staying, and how much they’re spending whilst they’re here.

During July, August and September this year the survey shows there were 269,000 visits to the Island. Most of these were tourists – about 75% - followed by those visiting family and relatives – 13%.

Most people came from the UK – 66% - followed by France – 13% - and Germany – 6%. But, because – on average – the Germans stayed longer – they make up a bigger proportion of the visitor nights.

About 66% of visitors left via the airport, the others going by sea. For 48% it was their first visit to the Island.

Whilst most tourists tended to stay just over four nights, business travellers usually only stayed one or two, and one in five visitors only came for the day. 66% of those who came to the Island stayed in hotels.

Using the Exit Survey Visit Jersey calculates visitors spent £97m over the three months – July, August, September. By combining the old and new methods it is believed during the first nine months of this year visitors spent £198m.

Perhaps most encouraging for Visit Jersey is that more than 50% of those surveyed were planning to visit the Island again in the next few years. Also encouraging is that visitors gave the Island high ratings for “safety and security”, “cleanliness” and “beaches and countryside”. What won’t be received so well is that 35% felt the Island wasn’t value for money.