The Issues

Tourism has fundamentally changed in Jersey and we are now dependent on areas like our heritage sites. We need to invest in these.

Events such as the Air Display and the Battle of Flowers need public support and we should endeavour to encourage other events. I am personally involved in a proposal to bring a wooden boat festival to Jersey.

The TGV coming to St Malo presents a great opportunity to attract tourists to Jersey particularly if we encourage more events.

Event led tourism is vital but only after we have got the landing fees at the airport down.

We have a plan to revamp the finances and accounting practices at the airport, to commercialise it effectively, which means that we can get landing fees down and we can raise numbers coming up, we are thinking about an extra 200,000 tourists a year.

When that happens and people can get here cheaply enough then we will see tourism take off again, we believe and that is certainly our plan to make sure that happens.

Then event led tourism becomes worthwhile because people can afford to get here and go to the events.

Policies are a diversion

Have you noticed in life that sometimes events repeat themselves?

The reason for this is that we did not learn from the experience.

Just like our elections we do the same thing over again but we expect a different result.

It’s not possible!

Event-led tourism is the new and already over used description for yet another big idea that will boost Jersey's Tourism industry. Its just that it's not a new idea.

Twenty years ago it was Pro-celebrity golf, the Battle of Flowers and the RAFA Air Display. Not much has changed! - bar the addition of a number of drinking and eating festivals, some music and art performances and the odd flower display.

The killer questions are: Is the tax payer getting value for money? Is the cash better spent on reducing the cost of landing fees at the Airport and Harbours?

The problem is that it is very difficult to determine the PR value of an event. 750 people came to Jersey for the Jersey Live Concert and the Island was described as the "coolest place to be in the UK this weekend".

The value of the visitors is quantifiable but you can't buy the publicity and still less put a price on it.

The current cuts tell us more about budget trimming than the value of events, but clearly the experts at Tourism have had to single out some winners.

My own view is that event-led tourism is extremely important, but funds must be carefully targeted at the right sort of event, attracting visitors who will appreciate other aspects of the Island, as well as entertaining local people who, either through donations, grants, subsidies or ticket sales ultimately fund it.

The States should demonstrate to those involved in the tourism industry their commitment to encourage a vibrant but evolving tourism sector. The progress of the industry is very dependant on the States delivering meaningful reductions in harbour dues and landing fees.

Government should view support for tourism, as an investment and not as a liability. Jerseys natural beauty, rich heritage and fascinating history, complemented by high quality hotels, local attractions and specialist events, and the prospect of cheaper travel, promoted by government but driven by the entrepreneurial skills within the industry, can, I believe, revitalize tourism in Jersey.

Event-led tourism is clearly important, because it attracts predictable 'guaranteed' numbers of tourists on an annual basis.

But tourism, on its own, can't be the saviour of the Island economy - If we want to continue to be relatively prosperous, in European terms, with high standards of public services such as health and education, there is, for the foreseeable future, no industry which will provide the necessary funding, other than the finance industry.

This is a response from the Centre Party:

Our plans for tourism are simply that of enlightened self interest. We would dissolve the tourism development fund and the tourism department and provide funds directly to the Jersey Hospitality Association. We believe that those with the most to lose will serve the demands of tourism best.

We would also remove the restrictions on hoteliers currently in place. Whilst maintaining a strict grading system, to ensure that a hotel could not misrepresent itself, and ensuring basic health and safety we would allow hoteliers to cater to the demands of their guests as they saw fit. It is our understanding that new developments are shackled by over-regulation.

Many of the existing beds are showing their age and modern conveniences that one would expect to find in hotels around the world are not available. New hotels built under the current regulations simply could not offer £30 per night accomodation, let alone £5 per night backpacker beds which might attract more visitors to events such as Jersey Live.

Event-led tourism can only help Jersey once the basic deficiencies in the Tourism industry have been addressed. It should be noted that Senatorial Candidate Kevin Lewis is the organiser of the Jersey Film Festival.

This is a response from the Centre Party:

Our plans for tourism are simply that of enlightened self interest. We would dissolve the tourism development fund and the tourism department and provide funds directly to the Jersey Hospitality Association. We believe that those with the most to lose will serve the demands of tourism best.

We would also remove the restrictions on hoteliers currently in place. Whilst maintaining a strict grading system, to ensure that a hotel could not misrepresent itself, and ensuring basic health and safety we would allow hoteliers to cater to the demands of their guests as they saw fit. It is our understanding that new developments are shackled by over-regulation.

Many of the existing beds are showing their age and modern conveniences that one would expect to find in hotels around the world are not available. New hotels built under the current regulations simply could not offer £30 per night accomodation, let alone £5 per night backpacker beds which might attract more visitors to events such as Jersey Live.

Event-led tourism can only help Jersey once the basic deficiencies in the Tourism industry have been addressed. It should be noted that Senatorial Candidate Kevin Lewis is the organiser of the Jersey Film Festival.

Event-led tourism is important, however it is also important for the Island to develop its "tourism infrastructure".

The Island should provide better facilities and attractions for visitors in the absence of events as we have to give people reasons to visit Jersey all year round and not just to attend large events taking place on an annual basis.

Although I would like to ensure that all existing events including The Battle of Flowers and The Airshow continue to receive central government funding, event organisers should be encouraged to seek funding from other sources as well as from the States.

For many years Jersey was the envy of many holiday destinations, it had affordable hotels, cheap food, cigarettes and alcohol costs were below that of most countries. We had beautiful beaches and breath taking views to go with it. Because of the indiscriminate building that has gone on all over Jersey, the views and scenery that people once came to Jersey for have been changed beyond all recognition.

We only have the States to blame for that. The introduction of a Goods and Service Tax would have an extremely harming effect on our remaining Tourism Industry. This tax must be resisted at all costs.

Inflation has had a devastating effect on tourism. With the inability of the States to control spending, the cost of everyday items that tourist came and bought in Jersey, have steadily increased over the years. To make up for short falls in the budget each year the duty on alcohol, cigarettes and petrol increased year on year.

This had a knock on effect whereby we priced ourselves out of the tourist market. We simply became to expensive.

Over the past 8 years our once prosperous tourism industry has been in steady decline. Why haven't the States done anything to stop this? The Tourism committee have failed the industry in its allocation of its budget on ridiculous projects and ideas. Out of a tourism investment fund of £25 million, £10.9 million was spent on the Waterfront swimming pool. How on earth is that supposed to encourage tourist's to visit Jersey? Why should the tourism fund have paid for the building of a private developers pool?

Why wasn't this money spent on subsidised landing fee's at the airport? This would have at least allowed low cost airlines to keep flight costs low and encourage people to fly to Jersey. The residual effect of this would be that they would then stay in hotels and spend money in our restaurants, shops, etc.

If you elect me to the States of Jersey I will actively seek the diversification of our Tourism Industry and the proper allocation of its funds.

I believe the way forward for tourism in jersey is event led tourism. If elected I would act immediately in encouraging EVENT LED tourism in Jersey. We must encourage people to visit Jersey not just for our beautiful beaches, but for our heritage site's, our sports fishing industry, and Sports tourism to name a few. The potential to bring new event led tourism to Jersey is huge, we must invest money into our Tourism Industry if it is to survive.

I would look to market and promote the following in Jersey: The film making industry - We have already had limited success in this area this must be capitalise on and encouraged.

World Class sports events
Bowls competitions - A hugely popular televised sport.
World Class Martial Arts Tournaments - This has already been done on numerous occasions and was a huge success.
The promotion of Jersey as a Golfing destination worth visiting. We have had numerous new facilities open up worthy of visiting.
Encourage Jersey as a venue for snooker competitions.
Power Boat racing - This attracts competitors from all over the world.
Sports Fishing - this would encourage the conservation of our fish stocks.
The promotion of Jersey as part of the Club Scene of Europe. Fort Regent is a hugely popular Venue for dance music.
The promotion of Conference facilities.
All of the above are only part of a Tourism policy that I would like to see introduced.

Jersey must have event lead tourism if the island is to have a tourism industry. We can never compete in terms of low cost or guaranteed weather with other destinations.

It follows that cutting investment in tourism events is disastrously short-sighted. Jersey should be investing in developing an international arts festival. The city of Edinburgh receives global publicity each year through its renowned arts festival which attracts people from around the globe.

Jersey needs to think big and think long-term. We couldn’t start at such a level, but within 10 or 15 years we too could be on the international culture map in this way.

Probably the strongest part of our Tourism product and getting stronger, need to maintain funding.

Even with budget cuts the Tourism Department still has considerable money available to spend. They are also due to receive a further million pounds for the Tourism Development Fund.

I would leave it to the industry experts to spend this money wisely, and it should be for those who appreciate their importance to see how much event-led tourism should be funded.