VisitGuernsey bolsters French marketing campaign

To support the new ferry routes from St Malo with Brittany Ferries, and Aurigny’s direct flights from Paris, work continues to ramp up our marketing efforts in France. As part of our commitment to driving awareness and visitor numbers, we’ve launched a targeted French TV campaign on France Télévisions, which is the main public broadcasting group in France.  

Made up of several channels - France 2, 3 and 5 - the group offers a wide range of programming, from news to entertainment, documentaries to debates, and regional culture to discovery. The advert showcases Guernsey’s unique charm to a wide audience, segmented across TV and digital, within a 150km radius of St Malo. We expect it to be seen by 400,000 people in June and July.   

To compliment the TV advert, we’re also using radio advertising, which helps to build frequency and reinforce our message across multiple touchpoints. A 6-minute chronicle about the Islands will feature on Destination RTL, which is the fourth largest national radio station in France, with 400,000 listeners.   

In partnership with Brittany Ferries, we’re extending our successful co-funded digital campaign throughout August. This will continue to target potential French visitors actively researching summer travel options, driving interest and bookings for the St Malo–Guernsey route. Brittany Ferries has also confirmed that local parking clocks will continue to be sold onboard sailings to Guernsey, which will be communicated to passengers in the pre-departure email, helping ensure they are well prepared for their arrival on the island. 

To further boost visibility and inspire travel, we’re enhancing our visiting journalist programme with a dedicated focus on French content creators. This summer, we’re welcoming a number of French travel influencers and lifestyle media, offering them curated experiences on-island to generate authentic, high-impact content for their engaged audiences.  

And lastly, to help improve the French visitor experience, we’ve set up a Beginners French taster session for customer-facing professionals. It’s a free opportunity for people working in hospitality, retail, transport, or other areas that engage directly with French customers, to provide some basic French phrases that will help them communicate with visitors to provide an even better customer service. The first session is already sold out, but we are looking into hosting additional sessions and will let you know when these become available.  

These combined efforts aim to maximise the momentum behind these important new routes, strengthening Guernsey’s presence in the French market and encouraging short-break travel to the islands throughout the peak summer season and beyond.