Hotels 'hopeful' as inter-island ferry launches

Hoteliers in Guernsey said they were feeling "hopeful" that the new Islands Unlimited ferry service would increase visitor numbers from Jersey, as figures showed passenger movements from the largest Channel Island were down half in 2025 compared to 2024.

Chad Murray, CEO at Islands Unlimited, said he was feeling "nervous and excited" ahead of the launch.

Islanders were being told to use the service, which would offer multiple daily services between Guernsey and Jersey, or lose it.

The service made its maiden voyage from Guernsey at 07:00 BST on Thursday, six days later than originally scheduled.

Andrew Chantrell, general manager at the Old Government House Hotel, said the service was a "great opportunity".

"Hopefully, we'll see a similar number [of visitors from Jersey than has been seen from France] because that link to Jersey is really important to us," he said.

"It's not just the Jersey market coming to Guernsey, but we also saw in the past the twin centre breaks.

"Particularly from the European market using that link between the two islands to come over to Guernsey for a few nights, go back to Jersey and fly home from there."

The latest figures from Visit Guernsey showed passenger movements from Jersey were down by half between January and April 2025, compared to the same period in 2024.

Charlie Walker, director of the Little Big Hotel Group and Vice President of the Tourism Management Board, said the Jersey market was "huge" for the bailiwick.

"I do wonder to a degree whether it's been ignored. If you consider in 2024, 67,000 in terms of passenger numbers between Guernsey and Jersey, so far towards the end of April the numbers are showing about 6,000" she said.

"So we're 50% down already, we've got to see at least 60,000 movements to match 2024, never mind see a growth in those numbers coming through.

"We don't want to be sitting here talking about managed decline, we want to see an increase in these tours and numbers increasing going forward."

While hoteliers in the island claimed the number of people, especially from France, staying overnight had increased, Karel Harris, director of the Sarnia Hotel Group, said the number of people staying overnight from Jersey had 'disappeared'.

"It's a shame really because we used to have so many more staying visitors from Jersey but over the years the connectivity with the flights has become so expensive, so let's hope we see an increase again."

Mr Murray, from Islands Unlimited, said the company was in touch with tourism and hospitality sectors in both islands.

"I think there is a market for everyone. We want to try and make it accessible and also meet the strategic obligations that the islands want in terms of growing their visitor economy."

"There's a great opportunity and we just need to make sure that people are using it, if it is not sustainable then it's obviously not something that will be able to continue in the future."

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