THE island is increasingly becoming a short-break destination. Guernsey Hotel and Tourism Association president Carl Symes believes hoteliers must continue to adapt to the change away from main holidays.

‘There is a shift towards short breaks. This has been a shift that has occurred over many years and which is now accelerating,’ he said.

The VisitGuernsey 2003 visitor survey showed that of the 204,000 holiday visitors who stayed in the island at least one night, only 20% were on their main holiday and 44% came for a short break.

A 12% rise between 2002 and 2003 saw the proportion of visitors to serviced accommodation who were coming for a short break increase to half.

In the self-catering sector, between 2002 and 2003 there was a 9% increase in short breaks and a 6% rise in people coming for their main holiday.

‘It has been brought about by the increasing changes to people’s annual holiday plans. More and more they seem to take one big holiday which often includes longer-haul flights and then they back this up with a number of short breaks,’ said Mr Symes.

‘This trend has been encouraged by the low-cost airlines. People will take short breaks if they think they are getting a deal. When they think that, then they are not too worried what they spend.’

The survey highlights that the island’s visitor economy has remained stable over the last five years. Guernsey attracts more than 370,000 visitors per year.

Staying-visitor levels have remained about 320,000 per year and more than 250,000 of them are on holiday.

The number of first-time visitors fell from about 50% in 2002 to 31% last year.

UK visitors increased from 292,000 in 2002 to 307,000 in 2003, an increase of 5%.

Most visitors to the island come from the south-east and south-west of England.

The number of overseas visitors fell by a third, from 86,000 in 2002 when there were Victor Hugo bicentenary celebrations, to 57,000 last year.

‘The Victor Hugo programme proved that if we get quality events, then we can attract visitors. It was very relevant to France and huge numbers came,’ said Mr Symes.

VisitGuernsey chief executive Stuart Pinnell said that last year there was a higher percentage of repeat visitors because of the world terrorism situation and because airlines had cut fares.

‘We have got stability after what has been a challenging couple of years. We are pleased that we were able to replace the fall in Continental visitors with additional visitors from the UK, but these are people who are coming back and not visiting the island for the first time,’ he said.

‘The work now is to focus on getting people here for the first time.

‘We are living in a more complex world and our biggest opportunity is to develop the short-breaks market outside the peak summer months.’

The report also highlighted the seasonal nature of the tourism market in Guernsey.

Almost three-quarters – 73% – of visitors travel to the island between April and September and 42% between July and September – a pattern identical to 2002.

Their age profile is focused around the 35-54 and 55-years-and-over age groups, with between 80-90% in these categories.

‘There is a change in the demography of the people who come to Guernsey but we still get a lot of the traditional families and older couples,’ said Mr Symes.

For 43%, their main reason for visiting was that they had been to the island before and wanted to come back; 39% said they wanted to discover a new destination but only 2% said they came to experience the culture or history; 37% had been to one of the other islands.

Previous experience of the island was the main source of information for 44%, 15% cited a travel brochure and 6% advertising.

More than 40% of holidaymakers would be ‘very likely’ to return to Guernsey on holiday and 70% said that they would be ‘very likely’ to recommend the island to friends or relatives.

The average cost of a package holiday to the island was £359.

On average people spent £175 per person on accommodation compared to £164 in 2002.

The average spent on food and drink outside accommodation areas was £62 per person, entertainment £4 and the average on tourist shopping was down £3 at £42.