Guernsey has its first cruise ship visit since 2019

A cruise ship has visited Guernsey for the first time since October 2019.

The Hanseatic Spirit, which is also stopping in France and Spain, is one of the smaller cruise ships to visit the bailiwick and can hold 230 passengers.

Passengers arriving in Guernsey were greeted at Albert Pier by a welcome team waving island flags and giving out Easter eggs.

Visits were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The island is expecting 86 cruise ship visits this year and the Hanseatic Spirit is due to visit again on 3 June after a stop to Jersey.

Deputy Simon Vermuelen, the tourism lead for the Economic Development Committee, said: "Some town traders said that without the cruise liners, they thought their business was up to 30% down so that shows you how much business the cruise liner passengers put though our retail shops in town."

The return of cruise ships means the suspension of some car parking spaces at Albert Pier.

Further spaces will be suspended based on the size of ship and expected number of passengers coming ashore.

To offset the lost spaces some additional public parking is being made available at Castle Emplacement.

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