Ports of Jersey say while those numbers are dramatically declining, airline traffic is on the up, with a 4.9% increase in passenger numbers for the corresponding period.
Condor Ferries high-speed vessel, Liberation, has been beset with problems since it was launched in March 2015 and the falling passenger numbers suggest that where possible, the public are choosing to fly.
From January 2015 to May 2015 a total of 239,000 passengers came to Jersey from France, the UK, or one of the other Channel Islands. That figure this year is down to 189,000, a drop of 50,000 passengers or 21%.
The figures are even worse for our Channel Islands neighbour, as there have been 22% fewer people travelling to and from Guernsey by sea so far this year.
Tourism Minister Senator Lyndon Farnham said the figures for both sea and air passengers reflect a growing trend in the industry.
He said: “I am not surprised that the air figures are up as it is increasingly the first choice for people when travelling. Generally speaking, I don’t think that is something just confined to the Channel Islands. As for the sea ferry figures, I think it is fair to say over the last year that the troubles Condor have been having has had a negative impact on their figures in the Channel Islands. Condor are working very hard to restore customer confidence and I hope that is soon reflected in their numbers going in the right direction again.”
Commenting on the Jersey ferry figures up until March this year, Chief Executive of Condor Ferries Paul Luxon said:
“Whilst there was an 11% fall in harbour arrivals from the UK between January and March, the total drop in passenger numbers was only about 750 people. At the same time, there was an increase of approximately 10,000 passengers, or 8.3%, in air passengers encouraged to travel to Jersey by the introduction of additional, competitively-priced routes.
“It is likely that some people also chose not to travel by sea because of the disruption on the Poole route and other factors such as the very poor weather and early Easter holiday will also have played a part.”
While these are days of choppy waters in the sea ferry market, passenger numbers are on the up and up in air travel.
Port of Jersey Marketing and Communications Manager Alan Donald said: “These are very encouraging signs in aircraft passenger numbers and they are very consistent as figures are up almost across the board.”
A total of 543,300 passengers arrived in Jersey by air between January 2015 and May 2015, but those figures were up to 569,800 for the first five months of this year. That increase of over 26,000 represents a 4.9% rise. In 2014, for the same corresponding period, 522,500 air passengers came to Jersey.
All the major London routes into Jersey are up by around six percent, while the Irish market is up by a whopping 30%. The only blip in the figures is for inter-island traffic, which is down eight percent.