Last week it was announced that next year’s Tour – the world’s most prestigious cycle race – will begin near Mont Saint-Michel and that the first stage will travel along the Normandy coast.
With the start of the race taking place so close to Jersey, Adam Caerlewy-Smith, head of marketing at Visit Jersey, says that they are planning to launch a marketing campaign to capitalise on the increase in visitors to the area.
Although the full details of the plan have yet to be confirmed, Mr Caerlewy-Smith said that it was likely to target social media outlets and internet pages connected to the race – including the official website of the Tour de France.
In addition to the online advertising, another possibility is the launch of a web-based competition targeted at the race audience.
Mr Caerlewy-Smith said: ‘Whenever there is an opportunity to talk to a new audience about Jersey, we have to take full advantage.
The Tour is a massive event which attracts interest from all over the world. We are looking at a number of options for our campaign and one that we are discussing is targeting online channels linked to the event.
- The Tour de France is the world’s biggest annual sporting event
- Lasting three weeks, the race normally commences around the end of June/ beginning of July
- 3,500 kms – the distance of the entire race
- 4,700 – the hours of TV coverage per year
- 12 million – the number of spectators dotted along the route in a typical Tour de France
‘We need to look at all the different social media platforms and websites that the audience might be using to spread information about Jersey, and that includes the Tour’s website and the Manche website about the Normandy stage of the event.
‘Ultimately it’s about educating people about Jersey as a destination, so that lots of people who would not have considered it as a place to visit might give it some thought.
‘We are looking at collecting data so that we can connect with those potential tourists in the future.
‘That might be through the use of a competition, perhaps winning a week’s holiday to the Island or something like that. I think that by being strategic in our approach, we can ensure future visitors.’
Mr Caerlewy-Smith added that the campaign could also focus on promoting the Island as a cycling tourism destination.
‘As we saw in the Island Games in the summer, Jersey is a great destination for cycling,’ he said. ‘It’s an area we are looking into.’
