This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

SHOPPERS are flocking to buy their Christmas presents in Jersey. They will be heading across the water on weekends away and day trips as Jersey’s Fete de Noue

gets ready to kick off at the weekend.

Condor and Blue Islands have both put on more services to cope with demand and Aurigny said inter-island travel was always extremely popular at this time of year.

Jersey has taken out adverts in the Guernsey Press encouraging shoppers to take advantage of cheap travel and Sunday shopping.

There are very few shops in Guernsey that open on Sundays.

Tony Creasey, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce retail subcommittee, said it was disappointing that many people were doing their Christmas shopping in Jersey rather than spending their money in local shops.

‘There is nothing new in what Jersey is doing,’ he said.

‘They have had this campaign for some years now. Condor and Aurigny have been available and certainly the boats have advertised shopping trips for this time of year.

‘Obviously it’s disappointing when we know that local people have chosen to visit stores in Jersey, but it’s happened in previous years and we can understand that for some people it’s a day out.’

Mr Creasey said that during the summer months the situation reversed and a lot of Jersey people visited Guernsey.

‘It’s not all one-way traffic,’ he said. ‘Jersey is a bigger centre and the States of Jersey and parish of St Helier take a positive role in promoting their town centre.

‘There are offers and schemes all the time to visit alternative destinations and we cannot respond to all the different opportunities people have. There is not a lot we can do about it.’

Mark Trenchard, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the question of whether Guernsey should to be more proactive in trying to attract shoppers needed looking at.

‘I think the profile of our shopping centre has always been a little different and that means it’s slightly less aggressive,’ he said.

‘Whether we should be more proactive is clearly an issue. But what I think we need to do is encourage people in Guernsey to buy from local stores rather than stepping across the water.’

Nick Dobbs, Condor’s general sales and marketing manager, said its ferries were always packed with shoppers from Guernsey going to Jersey.

‘We get an enormous number of people going from Guernsey to Jersey on our Christmas shopping services,’ he said.

‘What tends to happen is that Guernsey folk go to Jersey and the Jersey people go to St Malo. There are a number of shops in Jersey that aren’t available in Guernsey.

‘As we get closer to Christmas, we actually put on more sailings specifically for day-trip shoppers.’

Aurigny said that many of its flights were reaching capacity.

‘Inter-island services are traditionally busy in the lead-up to Christmas with both shoppers and sports-related traffic,’ said Malcolm Coupar, the airline’s commercial director.

‘This year is no exception.’