Guernsey’s 2025 tourism boom is set to continue into this year as Guernsey Ports have announced that 51 cruises are expected to dock at the island in 2026 – bringing 50,000 visitors.

And that number is expected to increase as cruise liners finalise their itineraries for the year.

Global cruise giant, the Carnival Corporation, are set to send their cruise line AIDAsol to the island for the first time, accompanying existing operators such as P&O Cruises, Silversea, and Ambassador which feature heavily in this year’s advance schedule.

Growing and growing…

This comes after there was a drastic uptick in the number of tourists arriving to the island in 2025.

Data produced by IRN Ferry stated that 112,255 passengers travelled between Portsmouth and Poole to Guernsey from April to October in 2025, compared with 92,023 to Jersey from the same two ports.

This means that by October 2025, Guernsey had gobbled up a 57% share of the Channel Islands’ market by sea travel, compared to just 43% for Jersey.

It was the first time that the number of UK tourists heading to Guernsey by ferry has surpassed the number headed by ferry to Jersey.

The Chief Executive of Guernsey’s main ferry operator, Brittany Ferries, said it had been a “fantastic first summer”, which saw “consistent growth over the full seven months”.

The island also noted a 73% increase French visitors in the spring, and a similarly elevated footfall in the summer, which saw a 55% increase.

Deputy Lee Van Katwyk, the Tourism Lead for the Committee for Economic Development, added at the time that “this latest data shows the large majority of visitors to the Bailiwick are keen to recommend the experience to their friends and family”.

“Our priority is to attract more cruise lines of all sizes”

The island also expects to receive Carnival’s Princess Cruises in 2027, which will return to Guernsey for the first time since 2023, with its luxury 3660-capacity liner Sky Princess.

Mark Renouf, Cruise Guernsey Operations and Business Development Manager, said: “Strong partnerships with Carnival UK and other major cruise operators are key to Guernsey’s success as a cruise destination.

“Over the past 12 months, we have strengthened our relationship with Carnival, rejoined the Cruise Europe network, attended numerous influential trade events, and held face-to-face discussions with global cruise operators.

“Our priority is to attract more cruise lines of all sizes, bring more visitors to Guernsey, and increase the economic benefit to local businesses.”