Growth in Overnight Holiday visitors in July

Growth in Overnight Holiday visitors in July makes up for fewer Business and Holiday Day-Trippers.

We are pleased  to share visitor data to the end of July 2018.  

July Headlines

• Figures at the aggregate level were impacted by the withdrawal from service of one of the Manche Iles Express vessels resulting in a sharp decline in day trip visits and one less Saturday compared to July 2017
• The number of Holiday visitors to Jersey spending at least one night on the island increased by 7% compared to a year before, with the number of Holiday visitor nights up 2%
• Across all journey purposes the number of visits was 3% down, but visitor nights were 2% higher 
• There were healthy increases in visits from Ireland, Netherlands and Switzerland in July, whereas visits from France declined, primarily due to the lower number of crossings
• July was another strong month for visiting yachtsmen, with more than 5,000 such visitors
• The proportion of Holiday visits that were made by those coming to the island for the first time stood at 49%, a little lower than the 52% seen in July of last year

January to July Headlines

• During the first seven months of 2018 the number of visits to Jersey stood at 397,000, some 3% lower than for the same period of last year
• Recent growth has started to reduce the year-on-year decline in the number of overnight Holiday visits, which now stands at -8% (-13% at end year to June)
• Despite the weak performance from France in July (contributed from vessel technical issues with Manche Iles Express), so far this year visits are up 11%
• It is encouraging that the number of visits from Guernsey has seen a 7% upturn during the first seven months of 2018
• The average length of stay among Holiday visits for the period January to July stood at 4.6 nights, which is unchanged on the same period of 2017

Rolling twelve-month headlines

• In the year to July there were 715,000 visits, 5% higher than in the previous twelve-month period
• The number of nights spent on the island was 4% lower in the year ending July 2018
• A key market segment, the number of overnight Holiday visits, stood at 409,000 in the year to July 2018, up by 5% compared with the year before
• Visits from Jersey’s primary market, the UK, were 5% up in the year to July at 462,000, with residents of the UK constituting almost two-thirds of all visits
• Despite month-to-month fluctuations, across the past twelve months the number of day visits remains 9% up on a year earlier while the number of overnight visits has risen by 4%

The tables in the download below provide more detail, covering the month of July, the three months ending July, the year-to-date situation and finally the tally for the rolling twelve-month period to July 2018.