Guernsey tourism boss wants to attract off-peak visitors

The chair of Guernsey's Tourism Management Board Hannah Beacom

Guernsey's tourism boss wants to attract more visitors to the island outside of the usual peak periods.

Hannah Beacom, chairwoman of Guernsey's Tourism Management Board, said increasing off-peak visitor numbers would be the focus of an upcoming tourism strategy.

The board, which is quasi-independent of the States of Guernsey, aims to develop the island's tourism sector.

The strategy is due to be published in March.

Ms Beacom, who took on the role a year ago, said it had taken longer than expected for the strategy to come to fruition but she had spent a lot of time consulting the industry.

"I wanted to concentrate on collaborating, it takes time to build these relationships," she said.

"We really want to focus on art and heritage-led tourism to push through those usually quieter months."

Covid and recruitment

The board recently awarded £150,000 to nine projects aimed at bringing additional visitors to the Bailiwick.

The money was allocated by the Committee for Economic Development last year as a one-off Tourism Development Fund.

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Ms Beacom said the industry was still recovering from the pandemic.

She said: "Since covid, bookings have been later, which makes it difficult for organisations to know what staff to get or know what the bookings are going to look like for the season going forward."

She said another barrier had been Brexit, which had meant it had "become harder to recruit from Europe".

"That seems to be lessening, we haven't quite got back to where we were pre-covid," she said.

Guernsey's Tourism Management Board awarded £150,000 to nine projects aimed at bringing additional visitors to the Bailiwick

Chris Meinke, a director at Island Rib Voyage, said he wanted the strategy to provide "a coordinated picture of the challenges ahead and something which can be delivered to government".

He said: "I feel tourism has fallen down the list of government priorities and the strategy will bring it back up again."

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