Tourists spreading 'positive' message of island

Tourists are helping to spread a positive message about Guernsey and increase visitor numbers, according to the co-chair of a tourism group.

Charlie Walker, from the Tourism Advisory Board, said Guernsey was starting to feel the effects of new ferry operator, Brittany Ferries, and the increase in French visitors.

She said the tourism industry was hoping for a repeat of a "really strong" 2025 tourism season when 17,411 more people visited the island compared to 2024, when 282,028 visited..

Walker said: "They [tourists] are staying, they're enjoying the island and that word, that positive energy is certainly spreading."

She said: "We're coming off the back of a really strong 2025 so I think expectations for 2026 are quite high.

"We've certainly seen later and later booking trends so that sort of vulnerability remains because we haven't got the full picture of what the summer season is yet looking like.

"I've remained optimistic that we're going to see a really good summer season and build upon the momentum from 2025 and hope 2026 beats that."

The board was created by the Committee for Economic Development in 2023 to create a closer working relationship between industry and government.

It recently went through a review by the committee which included changing its name from the Tourism Management Board to "better reflect the purpose of the group".

Walker said it had entered a "new phase" of how it operated and it was now looking for more industry representatives to join the board.

Walker said the group was looking for people to join the board who were "enthusiastic, incredibly optimistic, engaging, collaborative, forward thinking and daring".

She said: "Let's challenge perception and let's work alongside government and really hope that we are able to build the future of tourism.

"Not just as a part-time operation, but hopefully sow the seeds and create something far more resilient in the future.

"I'd like to see an increase in visitor numbers, I'd like to see increased connectivity, I'd like to see increased product development on-island, ultimately all of those three things really sort of form what is a wonderful visitor experience."

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