Tourist season suffers 'worst start ever'

Tourism businesses have said it has been the worst start to a tourist season ever.

They blamed DFDS's sailing schedule for a drop in day trippers, which they say does not give French tourists enough time to spend in Jersey.

Constable Marcus Troy, who is also a hotelier, echoed the sentiments by telling the States Assembly it had been the worst start to a season for hospitality "in living memory".

DFDS said 6,000 people travelled with them over the Easter weekend, adding that data from Visit Jersey suggested room bookings were consistent with last year.

The Jersey Hospitality Association acknowledged that while things had been difficult there were plenty of encouraging signs.

But Jon Morgan, who sells coach tours, said: "It's been the worst start to any tourism season I've been involved with.

"It's the poor scheduling of the St Malo ferry - the day trippers don't get long enough here.

"I've been told by French visitors when they go into the tourist office in St Malo they tell them to go to Guernsey instead because they get longer in Guernsey."

Jane Van Loock of Bay Tours agreed that the ferry schedule had led to it being the worst start to a season ever.

Ms Van Loock said, "We are seeing a lot less day trippers coming from St Malo, obviously now with the restrictions of timetables. I understand the St Malo boat is only coming on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

"We are also very isolated from Guernsey and so we are not seeing day trippers from there either."

The slow start to the season has also been raised in the States Assembly.

Speaking to the BBC after the States Assembly sitting, Constable Troy said: "I'm a hotelier myself and I'm feeling the pinch.

"DFDS were unable to publish their schedule early enough. A lot of hotels have lost a lot of group bookings through the summer because group bookings from the UK have cancelled.

"The early season, which has basically been taken care of by a company called Morvan Fils which is backed by Condor, provides Jersey hotels with a significant amount of business in the early season and late season and that has disappeared completely."

Marcus Calvani, from Jersey Hospitality, acknowledged that some parts of the tourism sector were having a very difficult time but said there were encouraging signs from the data.

Mr Calvani said: "Hotels that partake in international data processing that comes back to Visit Jersey shows thing are not that bad so there is a positive side to it.

"There is a lot of geopolitical situations going on that is effecting people's travel and as a destination we are holding our weight for once which is good news."

He also defended DFDS's day trip schedule for visitors coming from France.

"If you look at this weekend, the French are spending about 10 hours on the island when they get here - that's the same if not more than past years," he said.

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