IT is hoped that half-a-million people will visit Fort Regent each year following its £110 million refurbishment, the Infrastructure Minister has said.
Constable Andy Jehan made the comments when quizzed about his hopes for the future of the iconic site in a quarterly hearing with the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel yesterday.
Asked by panel chair Deputy Hilary Jeune about visitor numbers to the Fort, Mr Jehan said he “expects and needs” footfall of about half-a-million people per annum.
Putting those figures into context, Mr Jehan said that usual cinema footfall sits around 160,000 to 180,000 annually. He did not clarify if that number represented the popularity of Jersey’s Cineworld site specifically.
Mr Jehan said that 500,000 Fort users was “achievable”, adding: “When you combine the leisure facilities such as the concert hall and other events facilities, we will be able to achieve half-a-million visits a year.”
It comes after politicians voted last week to approve the government’s three-year spending plans, which requested £43 million be borrowed to fund major works in the first phase of plans for Fort Regent.
The Infrastructure Minister was also asked yesterday about whether any impact analysis had been undertaken if that amount of visits is not achieved.
In response, Mr Jehan said that 500,000 is a “high level figure” and has not been broken down into prospective amenities.
However, the minister referred to the statistics published in the recent footfall feport for St Helier.
The document revealed that the total visits to the parish in November was just over 391,000. It also said the total number of visitors passing through the parish in the year ending 30 November 2025 was 18.8 million – a 7.6% decrease compared to the same period in 2024.
It was confirmed last month that the plan remains to open the revamped Fort Regent on 31 December 2028.
A formal planning application for the strip-out and replacement of the site’s iconic white roof is planned for submission by the end of this month with work hoped to start in June next year.
A site-wide planning application is then expected to be submitted on 31 March 2026.
