March 2025 Trade Update
This month we're sharing a comprehensive look at our 2024 performance, an update on boarding permit fees, and a couple of nice stories about the work we're supporting on the continent.
10 March 2025
This month's full agenda can be found below, including a couple of points which may require action on your behalf. 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.
- FYI - Lucy Worsley's visit signals an exciting year ahead
- Action - Get involved in a month-long celebration of our fantastic food
- FYI - Increase in traffic to VisitGuernsey website
- FYI - Working with Brittany Ferries
- FYI - Visitor Information Centre on the move
- FYI - Islands Unlimited
- FYI - 2024 Performance Overview
- Action - Boarding Permit fees
Lucy Worsley's visit signals an exciting year ahead for the visiting journalists programme
We were delighted the sun shone for renowned historian, Lucy Worsley’s visit last week. Lucy is one of almost a dozen history focused journalists, influencers and content creators we are collaborating with this year. These are in addition to our visiting journalist programme which, each year, brings journalists over from the UK and France, on individual or group trips.
Lucy has already shared a snapshot of her visit, including our unique historical sites, with her social media followers – a combined audience of almost 550,000 – with more agreed content to come in the lead up to the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day, putting us on the bucket list for history enthusiasts.
Get involved in a month-long celebration of our fantastic food
April is set to be an exciting month for food lovers visiting - and living in - the Islands, with new festivals and events encouraging last minute trips and providing a great additional offering for those already booked.
1. Join Guernsey’s new culinary event – sign up for Spring Food Fest!
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Guernsey Spring Food Fest, an exciting new initiative set to give Guernsey’s hospitality sector a major boost this April. Created by the team behind Tennerfest and developed in collaboration with VisitGuernsey, the festival aligns with the Tourism Management Board’s (TMB) Tourism Framework, which identifies food tourism as a key growth area for the island. Celebrating Guernsey’s vibrant food scene, it will spotlight local produce and inspire both residents and visitors to discover the island’s culinary delights. Participating establishments have the flexibility to create their own promotions, with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients
As this is a brand-new event, businesses can take part for a special introductory price of just £85, offering incredible value for exposure in a VisitGuernsey-backed marketing campaign. Designed to drive footfall, the festival is perfectly timed with the Easter holidays, creating a fantastic opportunity to attract locals, visitors and families with special promotions. Don’t miss out on this affordable, high-impact marketing opportunity - sign up from next week and put your restaurant on the map! More information coming soon at SpringFoodFest.gg
2. The return of the Street Food Festival on 18th April
A Table in Guernsey is hosting two events in April. We are delighted to see the return of the Street Food Festival from 10am – 7pm on 18th April, which brings together the very best of our on Island offering. If you didn’t make it down last October, have a look at the video here to get a taste of what’s in store.
3. Introducing a month-long celebration of the afternoon tea
A Table in Guernsey is also hosting a month-long celebration of the Afternoon Tea, highlighting Guernsey’s food offering for the whole month of April. It doesn’t have to be a full afternoon tea menu, it could be delicious scones using Guernsey Dairy buttermilk, butter and cream, it could be delectable homemade cake or even traditional gâche melee.
If you would like to participate, please email info@atableinguernsey.gg as soon as possible for more details.
Increase in traffic to VisitGuernsey website
VisitGuernsey website sessions for February were up 18%, year on year, and 17% for February. Year to date, we have sent almost 51,000 partner referrals your way, up 16% compared to the same period last year.
Exit Survey data shows, in 2024, that 45% of all those planning a trip to the Islands use the website, an increase from 41% in 2023 so it continues to be a great shop window for your business.
Print ads (total circulation 755,029) are appearing in both mainstream and specialist publications, from The Telegraph to BBC Good Food. At industry’s request we also took advertising in walking publications to promote the Spring and Autumn Walking Festivals.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) campaigns and Google (YouTube and Display) both continue to perform well. More than a million have seen our main campaign on social media channels with the best performing creative featuring couples and solo travellers. Concurrently we have art and culture, and history campaigns live.
Occupancy data also shows a slight upward trend with January at 38%.
Working with Brittany Ferries
Work continues on a number of collaborative workstreams with Brittany Ferries.
Brittany Ferries’ forward bookings show that our co-funded UK campaign is having a positive response. Overall inbound passengers, from UK and France, are up 24.5%, year on year. Our French campaign goes live this week.
Alongside a joined-up approach on campaigns, we have been working together on the re-fits of both the Islander and the Voyager, ensuring the Islands of Guernsey are front and centre on the internal of both ships from featuring in the onboard magazines to re-naming the cabins to reflect the Islands.
We have also turned our attention to the customer experience on arrival, looking at how we can make some changes and additions to ensure a warm welcome for both English and French visitors, from new signage to print collateral.
Lastly, we are also working with the team at Poole harbour to share Guernsey as a destination with their audience, via digital marketing activity and their social media channels as well as having a physical presence at the Port.
You can read about our TV campaign here.
Visitor Information Centre on the move
Work continues on the planned move of Guernsey’s Visitor Information Centre to the Market Square. Construction is underway and the internal fixtures and fittings will be going in shortly. Plans are also being investigated to update the existing town signage, so watch this space and we’ll keep you updated.
Islands Unlimited
There is good news on the horizon in the form of a new inter-island service.
The Committee for Economic Development has agreed to provide £150,000 in financial support to the new ferry company Islands Unlimited’ which aims to provide daily Guernsey - Jersey services using a passenger-only fast ferry. We are working closely with the Islands Unlimited team and already have a proposed plan of marketing activity ready to go as soon as bookings can be made.
Read more here.
2024 Performance Overview
VisitGuernsey’s 2024 Performance Overview is now available to read on the Trade & Media site here. The report provides an opportunity to reflect on 2024, with the aim of reviewing our successes, challenges, and changes. Reviewing our performance is important, as it means we can adapt and evolve our marketing strategy, and, at a more granular level, our creative and campaigns, to ensure we’re doing all we can to encourage more visitors to the island in an ever-developing market.
The report highlights the importance of understanding our audience, and how we use a blend of medias such as digital, print, and social, plus PR, to target each audience segment. Being able to promote new, on-island product, which has been developed in partnership with local trade and the carriers, is essential to our collective success.
Our key strategic aims were to maintain a younger and more affluent audience, extend the duration of the average trip, and to extend the season. As you’ll see in the overview, the figures from the 2024 Travel & Visitor Annual Report and from the VisitGuernsey website confirm that we have achieved all three.
Boarding Permit fees
Boarding permit fees for 2025 have now been set by the Committee for Economic Development at £11 per bed for all Visitor accommodation provided by a commercial host, including chalets, shepherd huts, equipped yurts/safari tents/tents, pods, campervans, motorhomes, boats and any other type of unit used for sleeping accommodation.
The fee for private dwelling permits (allows letting for up to 10-weeks per annum) is £66.
All permits are due to expire on the 31 March and we would like to ask you to please apply for your new permit as soon as possible and remind you that you are not permitted to advertise or accept bookings unless you have a valid permit in place from 1st April 2025. This applies even if you have no intention of welcoming guests until later in the year, or if your property is classified as Visitor accommodation, use class 7 or 8 (serviced or non-serviced) and you are currently hosting long-stay guests under the exemption.
The portal to apply for your permit is: Home · Customer Self-Service. If you need any assistance or have forgotten your password, please contact us by email at: qualitydevelopment@gov.gg
Payment for the permit can be made once the application has been submitted by:
- By Bacs, make the payment to States of Guernsey account number 74072927 sort code 60-09-20. Be sure to include the remittance reference 250080 EC2837 with your payment.
- Debit/Credit Card – call the Payments Team on 01481 220015. Inform them you wish to pay for an Accommodation Boarding Permit – give accommodation name, amount, and the Code to charge it to 250080 EC2837
- By Cheque: Cheques made payable to the States of Guernsey, with the remittance reference number 250080 EC2837 and name of the property marked clearly on the reverse. Send or deliver cheque to Tourism Quality Development, Marketing & Communications, Sir Charles Frossard House, La Charroterie, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1FH
