THE number of people travelling in and out of Guernsey in July hit a 10-year high. Total passenger movements for the month were 155,948 and the increase bucked the trend over the rest of the season when they have been slightly down on 2003 figures.

Travel between the island and the UK increased by 2.8% over July 2003 purely as a result of the number of people travelling by air, which increased by 6.5%. Sea travel declined by nearly 6%.

The number of inter-island movements fell by 5,000 on July 2003, again mainly due to a decline in sea passengers, down 25%.

Continental movements increased by nearly a quarter over the month to rise to 22,570, the busiest one of the year so far.

The States policy and research unit said that sea travel might be on the decline after three years of above-average performances.

Yan Milner, Condor’s general manager for the Channel Islands, said he did not see the drop in passengers as permanent.

‘There are no worries about the sea routes being in terminal decline and we see it just as a blip,’ he said.

‘Sea travel generally seems to be about 10-15% down.’

The figures omit passenger movements between Guernsey, Herm and Sark.

Mr Milner said the Guernsey trend was virtually identical to that of Jersey.

Condor’s passenger trade relied principally on a tourism market that had shown a general decline and 2004 was proving to be a difficult trading year.

‘We are also in competition with airlines, particularly as they have offered very competitive fares to regional airports,’ he said.

Condor was looking at special offers of its own to maintain its share of the market.

The weather had also had an impact.

‘When the weather is poor and the sea rough, people are reluctant to make day trips and these are traditionally booked at short notice.’

Condor’s statistics showed a growth on the St Malo route, which had great potential.

An increasing number of people were now taking weekend breaks abroad and it was working closely with VisitGuernsey to market the island in France, particularly in Normandy and Brittany.