THE government is in discussions with international hotel chains which would like to set up in Jersey, according to the Economic Development Minister.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said interest from potential investors demonstrated the strength of the Island’s visitor economy.
Addressing the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel yesterday, he said: “[There] are really good indications that Jersey has a vibrant visitor economy and that international chains are really interested in investing. I think there’s value in bringing them to Jersey and we’re in conversations to do that at the moment.”
But he admitted that the “difficulty” these chains had was “finding actual sites”.
Deputy Morel declined to comment on the merits of the decision by Environment Assistant Minister Hilary Jeune to refuse planning permission for the Broad Street Les Sablons development, which includes provision for a 103-room “aparthotel” to be run by Dublin-based Staycity Group.
Deputy Morel disagreed with a suggestion made by panel member Constable Richard Honeycombe that legislation might be necessary to prevent the sale of hotel sites for residential accommodation.
Instead, he said the issue was that the Island’s tourist season remained concentrated on “July and August and, to some extent, December but ignores the other nine to ten months of the year”. Ensuring that the remaining bed stock was used throughout the year would transform the industry, Deputy Morel said.
During the Scrutiny hearing, Deputy Morel was repeatedly pressed by panel chair Moz Scott about what specific actions his department was taking to help secure economic growth, following publication of the Sustainable Economic Development Strategy earlier this month.
“The work we are doing now is all about identifying and undertaking those tangible actions,” Deputy Morel responded. “Each strategy that we have launched has actions which come out of them which are about economic growth. The sustainable economic strategy itself has the delivery framework which clearly points to tangible actions.
“But obviously again – and this is one of the things I love about this department – we are reliant on all those wonderful businesses out there actually undertaking those actions themselves. What we do is help point the direction. We help provide the support, from providing information to the potential for financial support if that’s necessary to help them become more productive and help the Island’s economy grow.”
Tangible?
At times the two Deputies sparred across the Scrutiny table as Deputy Scott wanted to know what the minister meant by the word “tangible”.
“I didn’t say the word tangible,” the minister replied.
“You did,” Deputy Scott responded.
“I was repeating you saying it,” Deputy Morel retorted.
Asked to give an example of a “solid action”, the minister pointed to empowering Jersey Business to provide support to the business community and to reducing government bureaucracy, something he acknowledged was “a very big project” which they had just embarked upon.
“So it’s not solid yet?” Deputy Scott asked.
