- More scheduled flights to European destinations including Scandinavia could be on the way
- Comment: Read what the JEP thinks
- Read our fun facts about Scandinavia below
- Would you take advantage of direct flights to Scandinavia? Take part in our below
MORE scheduled flights between Jersey and European destinations – including Scandinavia – could be introduced in an effort to encourage high-spending visitors to the Island.
Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham says that if the funding is made available he would like to see further routes developed on a permanent basis.
Speaking after a NatWest Island Games business breakfast yesterday, Senator Farnham said: ‘I’m not talking about charter flights three times a year, but sustainable routes.
- A total of 90,000 more people travelled through Jerseys ports in 2014 than in 2013.
- In January it was revealed that just over 2.2 million people went through the Islands Airport and Harbour in 2014, which was a 4.4% increase on the figure for the previous year.
- Sea passengers to and from the Island saw the biggest percentage increase, with nearly 20,000 more people travelling through the Harbour than in 2013, equating to a 6.21% rise.
- In each of the last six months of the year the Airport recorded an increased number of passengers compared with the previous year and by 31 December 1.47 million people had travelled through the arrivals and departures terminals. This marked a 3.1% increase on 2013, when 1,429,200 passed through.
‘Visitors who come from Germany, Scandinavia and further afield love Jersey and come back.
‘The challenge we have is to get the message out and get them here and back again relatively easily.
‘We’re not losing sight of our core market in the UK, but these are great opportunities in the longer term.’
The Ports of Jersey route development team has this year been running weekly ‘inbound’ services from Copenhagen over a period of 12 weeks and has also seen an increase in passengers on summer charter services from Vienna and Berne.
There are also scheduled weekly summer services from several German destinations, including Dusseldorf, Hannover, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich.
Last year over 8,000 German visitors used the direct flights and the number of visitors coming from Germany overall has been increasing steadily since 2010.
A spokesman for Ports of Jersey said: ‘We believe the desire among European tour operators to feature Jersey exists and we will continue to work alongside Visit Jersey to build these partnerships with tour operators.
‘In addition we have had early discussion with a number of scheduled airlines, as well as further direct-service European routes.
‘These discussions are still in the early stages.
‘In these negotiations both we and, more importantly, the airlines have to consider the commitment from passengers in both directions, otherwise there is a risk that the route will fail.’
Easyjet has previously expressed an interest in expanding its network of destinations – particularly to Portugal and southern France – but yesterday said that no new routes had yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile, Guernsey-based Aurigny has confirmed that if a ‘real opportunity’ came up at Heathrow, they would consider a direct service, following the announcement that the UK Airports Commission is backing a third runway there.
During yesterday’s breakfast event organised by Jersey Business, speakers from the Economic Development Department and the Swedish island of Gotland explained how their economies had developed different industry sectors.
The next Island Games will be held in Gotland two years from now and the chairman of the Gotland organising committee, Lars Samuelsson, said that islands shared the same situations, problems and possibilities.
‘We have had a fantastic week, it has been very well organised, we have met with a great deal of hospitality and people have been open-minded and willing to answer all our questions,’ he said.
‘The games are more than just sporting events and this meeting allows for other possibilities as well.’
Mr Samuelsson, who was accompanied by a delegation of business representatives and politicians, including the vice-mayor and chairman of the Gotland regional assembly, said that one of their key goals was to increase the population and attract more visitors to the World Heritage Site of Visby for meetings, conferences and themed annual events such as the medieval week, which attracts around 40,000 people.
Senator Farnham said: ‘For me, it has predominantly been about event-led tourism – this is an area that I have been banging the drum about for some time.
‘I very much hope that if we can secure the funding, I would like to see part of that go towards route development, to build up air links with Europe and Scandinavian markets – both are high-spending visitors – leading to permanent routes being established, provided that is aligned with the new tourism strategy.’
HOWEVER good the marketing strategy devised by Visit Jersey, people are going to be put off coming to our beautiful Island if it is hard to get here.
Cutting down travel time from a full day to a few hours each way can make a big difference when choosing a destination for a weekend break or a week’s holiday.
As efforts to breathe new life into our tourism sector move up a gear, it is great to hear Economic Development Minister Lyndon Farnham talking positively about establishing new routes to Germany and Scandinavia.
And with a third runway at Heathrow on the cards opening up the possibility in the longer term of more direct flights from the UK, there is much to be excited about in an industry which has hit the doldrums in recent years.
But this is not just good news for Island tourism and a vital limb of the economy.
Making Scandinavian countries viable short-haul destinations for Islanders can only improve the quality of life we already enjoy.
- The world’s largest population of arctic reindeer herders can be found in Norway.
- The most popular souvenir in Sweden is the commonly seen “moose-crossing” warning sign along roads in Sweden. Swedes replace thousands of these traffic signs each year.
- Norway is just a little bit larger than the US state New Mexico and two thirds of Norway are mountain regions.
- Finland is called “The Land of the 1,000 lakes” – the country has more than 188,000 lakes with 98,000 islands!
- Now known world-wide, the inventors of LEGO® toys got started in Billund, Denmark in 1932 manufacturing not LEGO® blocks but stepladders! Billund is now the home of Legoland Theme Park.
- Sweden is known for innovation and inventions. It is the country that first offered the perfected zipper, the marine propeller, the fridge, the heart pace maker and even created the computer mouse. Not to forget the much-loved discount furniture retailer IKEA and fashion chain H&M.
- Rekjavik, the capital of Iceland, has pavements that are heated by geothermal heat in the winter.
- In Denmark, a flag is flown outside when it’s someone’s birthday. If you’re not married when you turn 30, you will get a pepper shaker as a gift and men are called a Pepperman while females will be a Peppermaid.
- In Norway’s dark winter during the Polar Nights, the sun is up for only 3 hours a day in some parts (and in others, doesn’t come up at all), a phenomena which is said to affect and slow pregnancies of Norwegian women.
EARLIER this year, it was reported that Jersey could see an increase in German visitors this year after the Island was featured twice on prime-time television in the country, leading to a rise in the number of visits to the then Jersey Tourism website.
On Boxing Day Jersey appeared in a programme on the German show Nordseereport Spezial (North Sea Special Report) which showed a culinary journey from Jersey to Jutland, exploring food in and around the North Sea on the way.
Figures provided by Jersey Tourism showed that on Boxing Day there were 847 visits to the organisation’s website from German users compared with 201 visits on Boxing Day in 2013.
The trend continued into this month, with 7.008 visits by Germans to the website between 26 December and 19 January 2015, compared with 5,649 during the same period last year.
It is also hoped that Bergerac star John Nettles’ book about the Occupation, entitled Jewels and Jackboots, will generate yet more interest in Jersey for German tourists when a translated version of the book is launched in Frankfurt this autumn.
