NEW facilities planned for Strive in St Peter and Fort Regent could revive a once healthy conference market and provide a significant boost to the Jersey economy according to industry insiders. Julien Morel reports.
The Island used to regularly host a diverse range of conferences, from the National Union of Mineworkers to the International Whaling Commission; from Viagra-maker Pfizer to the Soroptimists International of Great Britain and Ireland.
Thousands of delegates would fly in and out of the Island each year, filling seats, rooms and restaurants, often during non-peak months.
To cater for this demand and attract new business, the States set up the Jersey Conference Bureau in 1996 in partnership with local hotels and operators.
However, it shut in 2015 when tourism marketing received a major overhaul, with the role removed from central government and the arms-length organisation Visit Jersey was created.
By that time, the market had receded, in part due to the closure of the Hotel de France’s Great Hall and the winding down of activities at Fort Regent’s Gloucester Hall.
Later, what is known in the trade as MICE tourism – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions – suffered a severe contraction during and after the covid pandemic.
However, new conference venues are planned for Jersey, adding to the offering of existing hotels and settings, including the 1,000-seat-capacity Royal Jersey Showground.
What are the plans?
AN outline planning application has recently been submitted by Strive Jersey for a 179-bed hotel and conference centre, likely – if passed – to be run by an international group such as Sofitel, Hilton or Marriott.
And in April, the Government announced plans for a major upgrade of Fort Regent, including for the Gloucester Hall to be redeveloped into a flexible 2,500-seat acoustic theatre.
This would “enhance Jersey’s ability to attract larger live performances and events, and provide flexibility for DJ events, conferences, conventions and/or a show court for sporting events,” the government said at the time.
There are also plans to build a hotel at the top of the Glacis Field, where the swimming pool once stood.
The Hotel de France was a significant player in the conference market but political, social and technological changes put paid to the sector, prompting the business to close its Great Hall in 2019.
The views from the industry
PROVIDING different types of tourism offering has been on the agenda for the hospitality industry for years, while ministers have spoken of the need to bring more visitors to the Island during the quieter winter months.
Hotel owner Robert Parker said: “I very much support what [Strive Managing Director] Ben Harvey is doing. It is very exciting project: Strive sees a niche opportunity for sports groups and they have a product to target that market.”
Mr Parker also identified another sector that once flocked to the Island.
“Islandwide – and including the Fort – I think there is a clear opportunity to revive the ‘association’ market. It would only take a couple of events a year to extend the season and the benefit to the economy would be enormous.
“With an extra thousand or so people in the Island, the boost to the profitability of the industry is significant. Once you have the occupancy to break even, you only need 10% more to make a massive difference.”
By ‘association’, Mr Parker was referring to service clubs, unions, religious, community and other organisations holding, perhaps, their annual conference or other gathering in Jersey.
“The plan for a big auditorium at Fort Regent makes absolute sense. You only need to go to Saint Malo to see how events, when done properly, bring a real vibrancy to a place,” he said.
Hotelier Matthew Jones, who was on the board of the Jersey Conference Bureau when it was being wound down, said there was a “definite opportunity” to step back into the MICE tourism.
He said: “It was a thriving industry, and I remember we used to regularly welcome pharmaceutical conferences to the Island; hundreds of people would fly in a few days.
“However, it changed when businesses started to reduce their air miles, and it became more challenging when the Great Hall closed; organisers like to keep everyone under one roof if they can.”
He added: “If we did try to redevelop the conference market, I think our infrastructure would have to improve, including updating an aging fleet of coaches.”
Kevin Lemasney was executive officer of the Jersey Tourism Board and manager of the Tourism Development Fund back in the day.
He said: “Instinctively, I would say that anything that adds to the tourism mix is good for the Island but we need to assess if the landscape has changed. Are the big conferences still popular or do businesses now prefer the smaller strategy away days? I don’t know the answer to that.
“But certainly, in the past, we used to have some pretty big groups here, including international service clubs like the Lions and Round Table, and religious groups, such as the Jehovah Witnesses.
“Now, it’s only really the Royal Jersey Showground which has the capacity for large dinners, as well as marquees. Conference organisers, however, often like to be in a single location, so it would be encouraging if a hotel like the one planned by Strive Jersey can cater to that.
“There is also a domestic demand for larger venues, but at the moment the offering is pretty limited.”
A spokesperson for Visit Jersey told the JEP: “We’re very supportive of the developments at Strive and Fort Regent, including the addition of new conference
“Overall, the post-pandemic recovery of the meetings and conferences market is mixed – many companies are shifting to virtual events and webinars due to budget constraints and/or sustainability commitments, but there is still demand for high-quality in-person events.”
They added: “There is strong demand locally for new meeting and conference spaces, such as Chamber events and the financial sector, and the Global Privacy Assembly that took place last year is a great example of the opportunities that exist to attract an international audience as well: they welcomed 400 delegates from 60 countries.
“That event had to be spread across multiple venues and hotels, which benefited a range of on-island businesses, but many conference organisers will only consider venues that have all facilities and requirements in one location.
“It’s also worth noting that the conferences and events industry has a very long lead-time – large conferences are often planned 2-3 years in advance – so while there is an opportunity for MICE tourism to grow, particularly with the introduction of fresh new venues, it is not a ‘quick win.’
The rise and fall of conference tourism
IT was not uncommon in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s for Jersey to host major conferences, from trades unions and service clubs to international bodies. It also brought a diverse range of individuals to the Island, from Times’ editor William Rees-Mogg to union leader Arthur Scargill.
Occasionally, celebrities including Celene Dion were flown in, often surreptitiously, to perform to delegates.
In the early 70s, Former States’ economic adviser Colin Powell, in his ‘Economic Survey of Jersey’, wrote: “In seeking to raise off-season occupancy levels, the industry is faced with the basic problem that nearly two-thirds of British holidaymakers still take their holiday in July and August.
“The greatest opportunity to spread the load and raise expenditure exists in relation to conference business. This is a particularly strong growth market at the present time and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
“Estimates vary, but conference delegates may spend between £10 to 20 a day compared to an average £4 a day by the average tourist. Most of the additional expenditure is involved with accommodation and food and drink provided within the confines of the hotel.”
However, decades later, the market fell away for a variety of reasons, as Mr Parker explained: “Up to 80% of conferences at the Hotel de France were linked to the pharmaceutical trade, at a time when NHS doctors brought drugs directly from companies, who would attract prospective buyers with a paid trip to Jersey,” he said.
“But that came to an end under Tony Blair’s government, which brought in a single purchasing contract for drugs, which had to be on an approved list.
“Also, there was an agreement with all the major conference agents over the commission paid by hotels. It provided transparency but then large hotel groups started paying an overriding commission to agents who hit a certain target.
“That gave these groups an advantage over independents like us.”
Mr Parker continued: “In the past you were also able to strike a deal with airlines, who would provide a flat-rate fare. But when bookings moved online, the carriers brought in yield management systems and it became a lot more complicated.
“The internet had another impact: whereas a conference was seen as an important way for a business to communicate with staff, emails made that job far easier. It broke down the barrier of the formal memo.
“The financial crash of 2008 also had a big effect. The market had been growing prior to that, and supply had increased. Two nights of a conference booking was worth seven normal nights. But afterwards, because of the over-supply, that premium pricing disappeared.
“There is a definite opportunity to revive the market, but it will have to take a different form to what we had before.”
