Across the year, 413,200 so-called ‘staying leisure visitors’ arrived at the ports or airport, an increase of 16 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
Total visits, which include those coming to the Island for business, were up five per cent on 2016 to 727,000, the highest since 2007.
There was, however, a drop in the number of day-trip and business visitors last year, a reduction likely to have been fuelled by several factors, including disruption to flights by fog, changes to flight services between the islands, increased use of alternatives like Skype to hold business meetings, a reluctance across schools in France to allow children to travel or visit attractions at home and abroad in the wake of the terrorist threat and the French presidential elections, which were held during a crucial visitor period.
It has been estimated from data collected from people as they left Jersey that £250 million was spent by visitors last year, an increase of ten per cent on 2016, and visitors stayed a total of 2.9 million nights in the Island.
Encouragingly, 52 per cent of holidaymakers were first-time visitors and there was growth in the number of people coming to the Island during the off-season following the promotion of these months by Visit Jersey.
Of the total 727,000, data collected suggested that almost 60 per cent would like to visit the Island again in the next two years. Thirty per cent said that they would ‘probably’ visit in future, six per cent said that they were unsure and five per cent answered that they would not return. No data is currently available about how many first-time holidaymakers with no family or friends in Jersey said that they would return.
People were also asked in the ‘exit’ interviews how they rated various aspects of the Island. Jersey’s beaches, countryside, cleanliness, safety and security were rated 4.7 out of 5, with five being excellent. Attractions, restaurants, cafés and bars also did well (4.4), with shops and retail scoring 4. Visitors were less impressed with the value for money offered, with the figure for this question being 3.8. Overall, Jersey scored 4.5.
David Edwards, the head of research at Visit Jersey, said that value for money was not simply a matter of price, but about whether people felt that the service they received was worth the money.
‘There’s nothing wrong with being a Waitrose rather than an Asda,’ he said, adding that the association of well-known ‘good value’ brands like easyJet, which begins a new service firm Edinburgh this year, and Premier Inn would help address negative perceptions about Jersey’s value for money.
Mr Edwards said that the number of people who said that they would be likely to promote the Island as a destination was also very encouraging.
The vast majority (65%) of visitors were from the rest of the UK, with 18 per cent from France, 5 per cent from Guernsey and three per cent from Germany. Mr Edwards said that he had high hopes for an increase in tourists from Germany in 2018 with more flights being available this year.
He added that the 2017 figures were helped by ‘solid reliability’ from Condor’s service on the northern route between the Island and the UK. And he said that the promise of a new ferry service between Jersey and Guernsey was grounds for optimism that day-tripper numbers would increase this year.
The six most-visited attractions in 2017 by visitors were the Jersey War Tunnels, a guided coach or bus tour, Jersey Zoo, Elizabeth Castle, Mont Orgeuil and Jersey Pearl.
Senator Lyndon Farnham said: ‘I am delighted to see the hard work of Visit Jersey, our tourism and hospitality businesses and our transport providers delivering more visitors to Jersey in 2017.
‘These are impressive results and I look forward to 2018 with confidence as more flights, more events and more reasons to visit Jersey entice people to our shores.’
Keith Beecham, chief executive of Visit Jersey, added: ‘This is encouraging news that our economy is increasingly benefiting from tourism.
‘We are confident that this trend will endure in 2018 as we continue our efforts to reach one million visitors spending £500 million by 2030. Visit Jersey is working hard with our tourism partners on-Island and overseas, promoting Jersey year-round as #theislandbreak, and it’s gratifying to see plans for an inter-island ferry in 2018 which should help boost day visits.’
Visit Jersey is a States-funded body created in 2014 to promote Jersey as a visitor destination.
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2017 visitors in numbers
- 70% of all visitors were holidaymakers
- 11% came for business (79,000 visits)
- 19% of holiday visits were taken in ‘shoulder months’ between January and March and October and December.
- August was the busiest month (114,000 visits) and January the quietest (18,000)
- 68% of people came on scheduled air services and 28 per cent by ferry, while 2% of visits were by visiting yachtsmen
- 5% of all ‘visitor nights’ were spent in hotels, 19% with friends and family and 8% were self-catering
