Visit Jersey’s new Destination Plan, which was published yesterday, includes a number of strategies aimed to boost visitor numbers to Jersey to one million a year by 2030.
Read a full JEP interview with Keith Beecham from May this year here
The chief executive of the organisation, Keith Beecham, called on the industry to work together to achieve its targets and said that Jersey must exploit its Occupation heritage and other niche areas to attract more visitors.
Recommendations in the plan included developing a ‘Jersey brand’, introducing new air routes, improving digital marketing and creating an all-year-round industry.
The plan also suggested researching new markets of visitors, such as American tourists visiting the nearby D-Day beaches.
Jersey Heritage director Jon Carter said: ‘The plan uses the example of heritage as something that the Island has to offer, and we welcome that.
‘The idea of trying to attract D-Day tourists to Jersey from Normandy is an interesting one, which shows we are part of something wider.’
Mr Carter also said that other areas of Jersey’s heritage, such as the Ice Age art which was unearthed recently, could help to attract tourists.
Ports of Jersey chief executive Doug Bannister said that he hoped to work with Visit Jersey to bring more passengers to the Island.
He said: ‘The Jersey Destination Plan provides a good highlight of what activities are going to develop the tourism sector in Jersey.
‘A lot of that will be achieved through market research between Visit Jersey and the Ports of Jersey on the routes that we operate and those we are looking to connect to.’
Chamber of Commerce president Kristina Le Feuvre, who owns the aMaizin! Adventure Park, said that she hoped more Islanders could be encouraged to work in tourism by Visit Jersey.
She said: ‘The communication between Visit Jersey and the industry appears to be a lot more positive, and we will need to focus on synergy between suppliers and the demand that Visit Jersey will create.
‘The industry and partners now need to show that tourism can be a career industry for those with creative and organisational talents, and not just a seasonal stepping stone to other industries.’
Jersey Hospitality Association president Ian Barnes, meanwhile, welcomed the plan, saying that it was the fist time Jersey’s tourism industry has had a strategy for growth measured with performance indicators.
But he warned that growth could not be achieved unless the industry was allowed to bring in people with the right skills from outside the Island.
He said: ‘Some of the skills we need are not available locally, and the industry must be given more work licences.
‘The current application of the Control of Housing and Work Law is the root cause of the recruitment crisis in the industry.’
A new plan aimed at boosting Jerseys visitor numbers was unveiled yesterday – Tristram College spoke to the man behind it, Keith Beecham of Visit Jersey
Developing a Jersey brand
One of Visit Jersey’s main priorities is creating a Jersey ‘proposition’ – a clear marketing image for the Island.
Several outside agencies are currently working with the organisation with the aim of creating a finalised product by the spring.
Mr Beecham said that the process could result in a new logo and slogan for the Island but the initial aim was to clarify Jersey’s ‘story’ for holidaymakers.
‘Jersey’s experience and our content is wonderful – we know that because Tripadvisor and other travel sites regularly has Jersey as a top destination,’ he said.
‘But what we don’t have is a storyline – our real challenge is to find the essence.
‘What we are looking at is identifying what Jersey’s promise is.
‘We are going to promise something to a visitor, but what is that?
‘It’s making sure that when people see or read about the promise they get some emotional engagement.’
Forging new air links with the UK and Europe
Mr Beecham said it was vital that Jersey expanded its current transport links.
Although there are specific destinations in mind at the moment, the company is looking at increasing routes in northern Europe.
Mr Beecham said: ‘To have sustainable growth we need to work with all of our partners – our airports, our carriers – and encourage them to continue servicing the routes and with good solid research look for new routes.
‘Part of our plan going forward will be to work with the ports to identify any potential new routes that could be sustained.
‘We think some of the Scandinavian markets offer an opportunity.
‘Initially that will be through charter, but we want to look at creating permanent links over the long term.’
Digital marketing
This year Visit Jersey launched the Escape to Jersey marketing campaign through its website and social media outlets.
It generated more than 90,000 visits to the site by nearly 75,000 separate visitors. Mr Beecham said that the company needed to build on the campaign to create further digitally led marketing.
‘I think it’s about understanding how potential visitors consume their information – people are moving away from television to Youtube and to social media,’ he said.
‘A large part of Visit Jersey’s marketing is going to be digital – we have to work really hard on our media programme.
‘We know that bloggers and video bloggers are a great platform for marketing, so we want to spend more and more time with these people.’
Researching different markets
As part of the research into the plan Visit Jersey conducted a survey of nearly 3,000 individuals who live within 60 miles of airports or ports that offer regular access to Jersey.
From the sample it was concluded that just over eight million people from the UK would ‘strongly consider’ visiting the Island and 11 million would ‘not rule it out’.
But according to Mr Beecham that is just the start of the research.
‘What we have managed to do is to identify the scale of the size of the prize in the UK,’ he said.
‘We think there are about 20 million people who are not rejecting Jersey – some are ready to travel and some could be persuaded to travel.
‘It’s the first time that we have an idea of what the market potential in the UK looks like.
‘We have also been able to understand what is important for people in the UK and how does Jersey compare to other potential visitor destinations in Britain.
‘But what we need to do now is the same research in Europe, in Scandinavia, Ireland and France.’
