Guernsey cruise passenger numbers still low amid visitor rise

The number of cruise ships visiting Guernsey is still low compared to pre-pandemic figures, a coach company boss has said.

Hannah Beacom, managing director of Island Coachway, said cruises would be booked 100 days of the year, and booked up to two years in advance, but now they were looking at between 40 to 50 a year.

"It makes a difference to how you plan your season and prioritise resources," she said.

The latest quarterly travel and visitor accommodation bulletin said visitor numbers, excluding yacht and cruise ship passengers, have risen to 81,681, which was not far below pre-pandemic levels .

Beacom said: "We're all agile within the industry, everyone's diversified."

However, she said it had been the "most positive" she had been since the pandemic.

Beacom added: "It's been a long climb for us out of the Covid years.

"We can see in these figures how we've got most of the business back and wouldn't it be great to bring the cruise liners along with it."

Beacom said with most cruise ships docking on Sundays, when the shops were either closed or shut at 17:00 BST, there was not a lot to do.

She said cruise ship passenger numbers range from 250 to 5,000 and she did not expect the whole town to open for a small amount of visitors.

Beacom also said 25% of cruise liners, sometimes 100%, were all inclusive and on pre-booked excursions whether it was with a coach operators, going to Herm or Sark or local walks.

Charlie Walker, co-chair of the States' Tourism Advisory Board, said it was working with organisers to align the events such as VisitGuernsey's Seafront Sundays with same-day cruise liner calls to give visitors "something to do".

She also said the board could look at seasonal opening hours.

Walker said the island remained a "seasonal destination" at present, but the aim was to extend the season from March to October with more events.

"We're only just getting started," she added.

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