THOUSANDS of visitors will be basking in Guernsey’s sunshine this Easter break. Airlines are flying close to capacity and some hotels are reporting healthy bookings as holidaymakers make the most of the long weekend.
‘The weather’s great and the island’s looking beautiful. What more could we want?’ said Chris Sharp, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Hospitality and Tourism Group.
Mr Sharp, who also manages La Fregate, has seen lots of weekend bookings, mainly from UK visitors.
‘It’s looking healthy and the other hoteliers haven’t moaned to me, so presumably they’re OK.
‘Normally they only moan when they haven’t had any bookings,’ he said.
‘The timing is a lot better this year - it’s either been too early or too late in the past.’
However, Ian Walker of the Fleur du Jardin did not think the picture was quite so rosy.
‘We have a beautiful island but we don’t have the quality of product,’ he said. ‘The hotels that are being renovated, like ours, are doing OK but some of the others aren’t.
Hotel manageress Maria Falk said the Fleur was more than 70% full. Again, most were UK visitors coming for the long weekend.
‘We’re really pleased,’ she said. ‘The nice weather has definitely helped. We can tell it’s Easter.
‘The pub is due to reopen next week, so that should help bring in more visitors and locals.’
Aurigny said 5,000 passengers would be flying in and out of Guernsey at the weekend, with 22,000 over the school holidays in the first two weeks of April.
Flybe was expecting to move 15,000 passengers through the island in the same period.
Chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said the long weekend was always popular with travellers.
‘People from all across the UK are choosing Guernsey,’ he said.
Aurigny commercial director Malcolm Coupar was delighted with the level of bookings.
Commerce and Employment marketing manager Jason Moriarty said the department had expected a busy period of air travel over Easter.
‘The hospitality and tourism sector is geared up and offering a very warm welcome to those visitors spending their Easter break in Guernsey and the other islands, on what is forecast to be a fine and sunny weekend,’ he said.
He added that it was too early to say how many passengers were inbound leisure visitors or here to see friends or relatives, as opposed to returning locals.
Article posted on 7th April, 2007 - 12.00am
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