Guernsey's tax status 'boosts' cruise stops

Ms Spencer Brown said Guernsey was just one of a few non-EU ports

The absence of VAT is a major factor in ships including Guernsey in their itineraries, according to a cruise magazine editor.

Carolyn Spencer Brown, from Cruise Critic Magazine, said her publication has been tracking the issue of VAT.

She said: "There are very few ports in the Mediterranean that aren't European Union."

She said stopping at one of these ports allowed the cruise ships not to charge VAT on board.

Ms Spencer Brown said: "Guernsey is one, Gibraltar is another, Tunisia a third and the Isle of Man is another that comes to mind.

"Places where we might find them on itineraries because they get the cruise lines out of the VAT situation."

The island is due to have about 80 visits by cruise ships this year.