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In the final instalment of the Visit Jersey series, Together for Tourism, showcasing the opportunities for this key Island industry, Patrick Burke, owner of The Atlantic Hotel and chairman of Luxury Jersey Hotels, says vision, hard work and collaboration are essential for shaping a strong future
LUXURY Jersey Hotels was formed in 2009, on the back of a difficult global financial period with the aim of leveraging combined resources and marketing investment to attract a new market to Jersey.
The premise may have seemed counterintuitive at first. Why would businesses that are in competition with one another want to work together? While the challenges we faced coming out of the recession feel like a distant memory compared to the devastation wrought by Covid-19, one thing has remained constant in the 14 years since the group’s inception – we are stronger and more resilient together.
With the newly formed Visitor Economy Steering Group and the promise of a tourism strategy to be delivered later this year, a window of opportunity is opening for our industry – a window that, if not seized with a unified sense of purpose, vision, and passion, may not present itself again. Working together for tourism – as an industry and as an island – is no longer an option; it is essential.
The visitor economy is tremendously diverse and the strategy needs to bring everyone, from luxury hotels and bed-and-breakfast providers to self-catering properties and visitor attractions on board, as we are all interconnected and, ultimately, if we want a successful industry, we have to work together.
The here and now
The pandemic was like nothing our industry had ever experienced and Jersey, along with most of the world, continues to recover and rebuild its visitor economy.
There were plenty of lows, including celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of The Atlantic with not a single guest in sight for the first time in the hotel’s history, but there were also glimmers of light.
The pandemic brought us closer together as a community, and helped to underscore the importance of the visitor economy to both visitors and locals alike.
Crucially, it also created a more open channel of communication with government, whose support is clearly vital. Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel’s commitment to tourism, and to providing a long-awaited strategy that goes beyond a ‘dusty document on a shelf’, must be commended.
Some aspects of our industry have not only survived but thrived. Taste Jersey, an annual celebration of gourmet delights across all LJH properties, returned bigger and better than ever this spring. The festival brought world-renowned chefs, such as Michel Roux Jr, and unique experiences, such as dining in the dark, to the Island, while celebrating our bounty of fresh produce and rich agriculture, fishing and hospitality traditions.
Shoulder-season events such as these not only benefit the luxury sector, but have the potential to stimulate benefits for the whole visitor economy.
Next week the prestigious Legends Tour returns to Jersey for the second consecutive year, bringing one of the greatest amateur experiences in golf to our shores, along with a high-profile Celebrity Series. As an island, we need to pursue long-standing relationships such as these, which not only showcase our unique landscape and hospitality offering, but also bring world-class events to our doorstep.
Looking ahead
When you’ve been in this business – and in the Island – as long as I have, the tendency is often to look back. It can be tempting to slip into nostalgia, but the world is in a very different place from where it was three years ago, much less 30 years ago. The only way is forward, and, as an industry, we have to reset.
This moment in time calls for ambition and big ideas, and for investment and infrastructure to help those ideas be realised. A long-term vision is essential, but there are steps we can take in the near-term to start enacting change right away.
We do need to be more sustainable, both in the environmental and the financial sense. Jersey’s environmental and cultural assets are an important draw for visitors and they must be protected and responsibly managed. Wherever a business may be on its sustainability journey, it is important that we all play our part.
And we need to recognise that people are at the centre of our future. Tourism and hospitality staff are integral to the visitor experience, and their work needs to be valued as such. I’m proud to say that The Atlantic is Jersey’s first hotel to be accredited as a Living Wage employer, and I hope that others in the industry will join us in making this a priority.
Along with this, we must address the biggest issue industry-wide, which is staffing and the accommodation of employees, in particular. We must take a long, hard look at how we welcome seasonal workers to our Island and, as a community, think very seriously about how we would score our own hospitality to those working in the industry. We also need to embrace outside influences. It is easy for insular thinking to take over in an island, but we must welcome and take on board the views of those looking in.
More than anything we need a clear brand and messaging. Visit Jersey has proven highly capable of this, with award-winning campaigns and national media coverage, but it needs proper funding.
The Visit Jersey budget has been frozen for years, effectively dwindling as it faces rising costs, inflation and increased competition.
We need policies that will enable hotels to evolve more quickly and to create synergy with other areas of industry, such as agro-tourism and self-catering where the Island is seriously under-provided. Hotels are fundamental to our visitor economy, and the number of family-owned properties in the Island makes Jersey very special. We must make it easier for hoteliers to adapt to the evolving demands of the market and position ourselves more competitively against other destinations.
Visitor spending underpins the quality of life for the whole community. Without it, other industries would suffer greatly, whether through limited connectivity or lack of choice for accommodation and dining. The opportunity to create a world-class visitor economy in Jersey is within our grasp – but it will require hard work, vision and working together like never before.
