Bon Port Hotel Mark Galins views of the future of tourism.

THE hotel industry in Guernsey is in its strongest position and investment is the key to sustaining it.
That is the view of Mark Galins, the Bon Port co-owner, who recently put £750,000 into the hotel.
It is just the latest of several large investments by Mr Galins, who arrived in the island when he bought the hotel seven years ago.
‘When I arrived, the quality wasn’t good at all. The product we were trying to sell to people was terrible.
‘Now we are enjoying our best year out of the past seven.
‘Our figures in May are 25% up on last year.’
Despite the heavy investment, Mr Galins also believes that some of the success can be attributed to Commerce, with which the industry must work hand in hand.
‘Although we can please visitors when they visit our hotel, it is not us who gets them into the island in the first place.
‘That is up to the department, which promotes the island.
It has done a fantastic job this year, targeting the media much more effectively.’
But Mr Galins did warn that if the industry were going to continue flourishing, then planning must be stopped on building any new hotels.
‘The occupancy rate in Guernsey is just over 50%, when hotels in London are achieving around 90%.
If more hotels are built, it will get worse and we will be entering a catastrophic spiral.
‘That is not me thinking individually, it is for the good of the whole industry.’
Another issue is the ongoing worldwide fuel-price rises, but he doesn’t see those as a problem.
‘It will make it comparatively cheaper to travel short- haul, so we may benefit. However, the biggest worry will be if and when the credit crunch hits us, because we will get less business from banking clients.’
Mr Galins does believe that the industry will survive intact, though, and thinks that loyalty and perseverance is the key.
‘Most of the hotel owners here now are in their 30s or 40s, so they should be around for a long time yet. There is likely to be a very low turnover of hotels.’
The future certainly looks bright for the Bon Port and its beautiful views. With more air routes being negotiated, and the island becoming increasingly accessible, Mr Galins is extremely confident for the future.
‘We have a 70% return rate and more older people than ever are visiting on short breaks from England. It is very refreshing to see and we expect to see this continuing into the foreseeable future.’