From campaign updates and events funding to strengthening our French connections, we have plenty of exciting updates to share with you this month.
If you would like more information about anything in this newsletter, or if there is anything we can do to help, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the VisitGuernsey team and we will be delighted to assist you.
Make your July and August offers go further
Get your July and August offers out to an engaged audience of more than 60,000 people with our consumer mailer. This database is made up of people who are already interested in visiting the Islands and have signed up to find out more.
In addition to our always-on digital campaign, sending additional offers to our consumer mailer database is a great way of boosting summer bookings. The emailer has an open rate of almost 20% and, in previous mailers, offers were the most popular, resulting in the most click throughs. Offers were also featured on VisitGuernsey.com within the special offers section and were boosted on social media to our followers (combined social following of 65,563).
Send your additional summer offers to chloe.steadman@gov.gg to feature on our website. Offers should include a price point and an expiry date.
Increase in web traffic - and partner referrals
So far this year we have seen an increase of almost 10% in traffic to the VisitGuernsey website compared to last year, with 704,455 sessions recorded. More than 160,000 of those were in June, an increase of more than 25% compared to June 2023.
More web traffic means more referrals. This year, to date, we have sent 147,378 referrals to you, our trade partners, from the VisitGuernsey website - an increase of 3.5% year on year. In June alone, there were 30,264 referrals to trade partners, a year-on-year increase of almost 3%.
We are keen to understand how this increase in referrals is translating into bookings, so please let us know.
Campaign updates
Reactive heatwave campaign
Following the recent heat waves across the UK, in which the hottest day of the year so far has been recorded, we reacted with a digital ad campaign encouraging viewers to ‘cool off’ on the Islands of Guernsey this summer. These ads have gone live across cities in England, targeting departure points.
Bringing some Island air to the London Underground
Our out-of-home advertising in London also went live a couple of days ago and will run until 14 July. The series of adverts will be seen across 20 sites in central London stations, including Oxford Circus and Leicester Square. We are expecting 4,858,050 impacts and a reach of 1,455,160.
The cross-track campaign forms part of Visit Guernsey’s core 2024 marketing campaign, targeted around key departure points and lifestyle segmentation, which includes digital, social and print media, targeted TV advertising, radio and website. Last year, cross track advertising resulted in a 10% increase in London-based traffic to the VisitGuernsey website.
It comes hot on the heels of Visit Guernsey’s summer TV campaign, the second of the year, which was live from mid-May through to the end of June, and reached more than 220,000 households. Year to date, there has been an increase of nearly 10% in traffic to the VisitGuernsey website, with almost 705,000 sessions. In June there was a 26% increase year on year (161,495 sessions). This is also reflected in increased occupancy with May up 7% on 2023 and up 11% on May 2019.
Additional campaigns target audiences around new routes
As part of co-funded activity with Aurigny to support new London City and Stansted routes, we launched an additional radio ad on Wednesday 12 June, across nine UK radio stations, including Smooth Radio London, Heart Essex and Nation Radio Suffolk.
The ad, which forms part of Aurigny’s ‘stay curious’ campaign, will reach just over 2 million people, with an impact of 13.5 million, as it’s estimated listeners will hear the ad (on average) seven times.
Among other activity, we have also been promoting the new Newquay route, due to launch on Tuesday 23 July for six weeks. Ads were live on YouTube throughout May, and digital ads were live across social media throughout June, targeting the Cornwall region.
Changes in how we share our data
Following feedback from trade, we have been working with Data and Analysis and the Ports teams to simplify how the airport and harbour data we share is presented. Some narrative has also been added to both sets of stats to explain the changes we are seeing.
We continue to work together to review and improve how this information is shared. For historic data, go to: Statistics & Surveys Archive | Guernsey Trade Media
More than half a million engage with our history, thanks to History Alice
In last month's mailer we told you about History Alice, who we brought to Guernsey in May to experience Liberation Day, as part of our PR focus on the Island’s unique history and heritage. Alice, a history broadcaster and author, enjoyed a tailor-made history-focused itinerary, and created three videos (plus one bonus video) about the Island and our Liberation Day celebrations for her 1.7 million Instagram followers.
The three videos, which you can view on Alice’s Instagram channel linked above, have so far been played 875k times, reached 581k accounts, and have received more than 40k interactions (likes, comments, shares and saves). These high numbers demonstrate a strong engagement with Alice’s audience and the value of working closely with history experts and broadcasters to promote our relevant history product to enthusiasts. The videos have also been saved by 2,338 people, which indicates content that users watch multiple times.
More coverage around Liberation Day
Alice wasn’t the only journalist on-island for Liberation Day; we also hosted writers from War History Online, National World (which syndicates across 70 regional titles) and Reach PLC, which comprises the Daily Mirror, Daily Express and the Daily Star.
Last month we shared coverage with you from War History Online, and we’re pleased to now share articles on National World and The Mirror. You can view all of our coverage on the trade site here.
Strengthening our French connections
Increase in Paris-based travellers
The launch of Aurigny’s new direct route from Paris in early April continues to give us the opportunity to grow our secondary market in France, expanding our advertising beyond Brittany and Normandy into the French capital.
Having switched on our Paris marketing campaign, we are pleased to report Paris-based travellers visiting Guernsey have risen from 9% to 24% of the overall loads.
Condor co-fund
In addition, this spring into summer we launched a significant co-campaign with Condor Ferries in France, targeting people in western France and Paris. The digital campaign - including fixed social posts, digital banners and targeted video reels - showcases the islands with the story of “a gem in the crown” and in the footsteps of Victor Hugo.
The campaign includes a strong call to action and we estimate that up to 20 million people will see the adverts (full results to follow).
French journalists
In addition to our digital marketing campaigns, there are several other initiatives in place to help reach the French audience. In our April and May updates we outlined plans for the first of two French journalist group trips taking place this year, and we are pleased to now start sharing the resulting coverage.
Grazia, which has just shy of 4 million monthly website visitors, and Yonder, which has 223k monthly visitors, are the first to come through, with more to follow.
Our French PR agency – GroupExpression – who we partnered with in February this year, have helped us secure other new and exciting opportunities to target the French market. This includes interview spots with top radio stations such as Sanef 107.7, which is the number one station on the French highway with 6 million daily listeners, plus an exclusive opportunity to work with French fashion magazine, Gala.
Gala is the leading selective women’s brand in terms of print and digital audiences. Their audience includes 15.6 million readers, 211 million monthly page views online, and a social media following of over 12 million across Instagram and TikTok.
In mid-June, we hosted them for a week of shooting, following a tailor-made itinerary to photograph their Autumn/Winter edition due out later this year. The edition will be entirely Guernsey focused, giving us 50 to 60 pages of fashion coverage, shot across more than 25 locations, including Petit Bot, the Little Chapel, Moulin Huet, and Cobo Bay. The edition will also include a feature guide to the Island, and we are very much looking forward to sharing it with you later this year.
IFTM Top Resa
Lastly, UKinbound will – for the first time – be hosting a stand at IFTM Top Resa (in Porte de Versailles, Paris) this September, and we are delighted to be joining them to represent the Islands of Guernsey to key players in the French market. With over 30,000 visitors in 2023, IFTM Top Resa offers an ideal platform to foster new business opportunities and build valuable connections. Aurigny Air Services will join at the event to showcase the direct Paris route.
Events and activity funding
Events and activity funding awarded to 17 successful applicants
The Tourism Management Board has awarded funding to a variety of groups and organisations who submitted applications for the Events and Activities Fund. 28 applications were received, totalling requests for more than £230,000 (versus a total fund amount of £123,000). It was a vigorous process, and we are delighted to announce the successful applicants.
Funding has been awarded to: Guernsey Literary Festival, Guernsey Photography Festival, Guernsey Street Festival, La Beltane Arts Festival, Pride, Floral Guernsey Foundation, Celebrate Local Food Festival, EDABL, Walking Festivals, Amalgamated Boxing Club, Guernsey Chess Federation and Club, Guernsey Indoor Bowling Association, The Classic Channel Regatta, Guernsey Cricket, Guernsey Arts, Spirit Yacht Regatta and St James.
VisitGuernsey continue to work closely with those successful groups to ensure we are making the most of each of these opportunities.Extending our reach in Scotland
Last week we attended the Glasgow Media Getaway, for a series of one-to-one meetings with prominent journalists, and to network with travel media from across the UK and Ireland.
We met with writers from publications such as the Daily Telegraph, The Independent, National Geographic, Forbes, Wanderlust, and The Times to discuss the Islands, promote new and relevant product, and encourage them to visit as part of our journalist programme.
We met 19 journalists over the course of the day and are pleased to report that some promising opportunities, which incorporate our ongoing objectives, stemmed from our conversations. We will now look at how we can maximise those opportunities, either by bringing those journalists to the Island this autumn or early next year, to help highlight our history, food, art, proximity to the UK, and more. We will keep you updated on our progress next month.Table talkers
This week, accommodation providers will have a delivery of free table talkers promoting the VisitGuernsey App and the recently-launched Guernsey mark. We would be grateful if these could be displayed in bedrooms or public spaces. They will be delivered flat and are easy to construct.
The Guernsey Mark was one of nine projects supported by the Tourism Management Board (TMB), via the Product Development Fund. In line with the aims and ambitions of the TMB’s Tourism Framework, the Guernsey mark is focused on sustainability, reducing food miles and highlighting the very best of our local produce on menus across the Island.
The VisitGuernsey App, free to download here and a must for your visitors, offers self-guided walking trails, insider information about sea swimming around the Island and heritage-specific routes to follow. It also highlights attractions and eateries along the way, encouraging on-island spend and making sure visitors have as much information as possible to get the most out of their time here.
The table talkers include information on how to download the VisitGuernsey app and a QR code to VisitGuernsey.com.
If you need more information or have any questions, please get in touch with chloe.steadman@gov.gg
Silver awards
Finally, we are pleased to announce that we were shortlisted for ‘Best PR Campaign’ at the 2024 Silver Marketing Association Awards, and received a highly commended award.
The awards, which recognise brands that have delivered a successful marketing campaign targeted at the silver demographic, shortlist brands based on the creativity, empathy and measurable results of their campaigns.
VisitGuernsey’s campaign, which promoted ‘Renoir in Guernsey, 1883’, an exhibition curated by Art for Guernsey in partnership with Guernsey Museums and the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, comprised coverage in top UK and international publications such as Forbes Magazine, The Times, and Wanderlust, and a press event at Christies London.
At a recent Chamber of Commerce presentation, founder of Art for Guernsey, David Ummels, confirmed that the exhibition welcomed 15,775 visitors, of which 30.49% came from overseas. A third of the overseas visitors made the trip specifically to see the exhibition, and it is estimated that group alone brought £2.8m to the local economy, including an additional 8,800 bed nights.
