Catherine Leech, who founded travel website 101holidays.co.uk and has served on various tourist boards around the world, said that making local people unofficial ambassadors for the Island was ‘the missing link’ to growing tourism, but this could only work if they stopped complaining about issues such as roadworks and politics.
Ms Leech, who is a non-executive board member for Visit Jersey, has also attacked the high number of financial advertisements at the Airport and said that St Helier’s skyline had been ‘utterly spoiled’ by ‘nasty high buildings’, which would ideally be knocked down.
Ms Leech, who was the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s Chamber of Commerce lunch, said that Jersey had the natural beauty and a ‘talented’ marketing body to achieve the 2030 target but added that it would require ‘hard work’ and a change in local people’s attitudes.
