JERSEY is making a renewed effort to encourage Swiss and German visitors to the Island on week-long charter trips, it has emerged.
Representatives from Visit Jersey, the Jersey Hospitality Association and travel operator Bontour are to take part in a sales mission aiming to restore the charter market to pre-Covid levels.
The drive will run alongside efforts to increase Jersey’s air connectivity to continental Europe, with Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel confirming the investment of £2 million towards developing new routes, with France and Germany a particular focus.
Tricia Warwick, chief executive of Visit Jersey, said that while it could be 2027 before some of the new routes were operational, she hoped the charter campaign would bear fruit earlier than that.
“The German market has been slower to rebound since Covid, and that’s what we want to encourage,” she said.
“The positive thing is that these charter visitors from Germany and Switzerland stay for a week and are typically very active while they are here, spending more on average per day than British visitors.”
Ms Warwick said the route development work would be carried out in partnership with Ports of Jersey.
“It’s a slow burn with airlines who will often be planning a couple of years ahead – it’s a big jigsaw puzzle where they look to work out what they can fit in,” she said.
“Jersey can be a good ‘filler’ for a crew who have enough flying hours for a short hop across.”
Lessons would be learned, Ms Warwick said, from previous experience including the short-lived easyJet link to Amsterdam, which was stopped after just one summer season in 2023.
“There wasn’t a lot of lead time when the route was announced [in late 2022] so that limited the opportunities for package companies to market trips to Jersey, and easyJet Holidays didn’t have a presence in Amsterdam,” she said.
“In Germany we have a company representing us, and now there is one in France as well, so we have good contacts.”
Answering questions in the States Assembly this week, Deputy Morel said the intention of the investment was to incentivise airlines to establish routes to Jersey, and that it was possible further investment might be required after 2026.
