A stone lighthouse stands at the end of a pier on a sunny day, with people walking nearby. A large white cruise ship is sailing past in the blue water. On the right side of the image, a small white tourist road train drives along a street lined with tall, historic buildings decorated with bunting.
Pictured: Cruise ships used to make up most of the Petit Train's trade, but this has fallen off in recent years. (Shutterstock - John White / Petit Train / Bailiwick Express)

Guernsey’s tourist train has added a series of specially-themed tours – including a ‘Pancake Express’ and a K-Pop tour – to make up for falling cruise ship numbers.

The Petit Train is putting on several specials this half term, including a Shrove Tuesday tour of St Peter Port – with a stop-off at Crêpe Maison for a traditional pancake and a Disney sing-along.

There will also be a K-Pop tour on Thursday afternoon, several ‘toddler trains’ for the under fives, and a ‘puddle jumping’ trip to Saumarez Park.

Owner Andrew Furniss said he was having to extend the season “to mitigate the lack of trade” he expected in the summer.

Mr Furniss explained there were only 11 large cruise ships due to visit the island this summer – compared to an average of more than 30 before the Covid pandemic.

“Tourism is such a difficult industry now,” he added, “especially here in Guernsey.”

Innovate to survive

When he took over the business, Mr Furniss said tourism – especially from cruise ships with over 1,000 passengers – was the train’s “number one income”, but this had dropped to “earner number five” since Covid.

With the falling cruise ship and UK tourist numbers, the business needed to be innovative to survive, Mr Furniss said.

A small white tourist road train decorated with colourful Christmas lights and tinsel is parked on a street at night. Festive light displays hang overhead, illuminating the curved stone building behind it and the quiet, gently sloping street lined with shops.
Pictured: More than 6,000 people booked for a Christmas lights tour of St Peter Port last year. (Le Petit Train)

“We have to continually think of new ideas to spice up what we’re doing.”

There were fewer than 2,000 visitors in the whole of last year from large cruise ships, he said, whereas tours of the Christmas lights brought in 6,000 customers in just three weeks.

French ‘bonus’

While tourists from large cruise ships and the UK were down, the increased number of day-trippers from France last year was an “absolute bonus”.

Mr Furniss is now planning to take advantage of this further, by adding French audio commentary to the tours as well as signage in French.

He said: “Visit Guernsey have done an awful lot of work in St Malo, they’ve done a lot of targeting of the right people.”

Relying on locals

Mr Furniss said the majority of his customers were now locals, with themed tours, corporate activities and special events like weddings replacing much of the tourist trade.

“There’s been a big swing the last couple of years – we’re much more reliant on local trade now,” he added.

A white tourist road train is parked along a seafront road in the early evening light, beside a busy restaurant with people dining on an outdoor terrace. The long train is decorated with small flags, and the buildings behind it glow warmly in the sunset.
Pictured: In the summer the Petit Train’s ‘West Coast Rambler’ route takes people down to Cobo Bay, stopping for drinks and food before returning to town. (Petit Train)

“We do have our regular passengers who come every week – the kids ride the train on a Sunday afternoon.”

Mr Furniss said the company needed to “keep changing and introducing new stuff, whether that’s dressing up as pirates, a restaurant tour or our ghost train”.

“We have to continually think of new ideas to spice up what we’re doing.”