MARKETING Guernsey as a tourist destination this year will continue by concentrating on the use of print media.

And it appears Jersey is following suit after its tourism and marketing director David de Carteret announced its own 2010 marketing campaign would no longer include television advertising as it did in 2009.

Chris Elliott, director of marketing and tourism at Commerce and Employment, said that following a 2% rise in visitor numbers last year during a recession and when most competitors suffered a decline, Guernsey’s campaign this year would very much follow along the lines of 2009.

It will make extensive use of a wide range of newspapers and magazines, both in the travel and main sections of publications such as the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Telegraph and Radio Times and more specialised magazines covering interests including food, heritage and birdwatching.

‘Last year’s media campaign was particularly successful, resulting in a 90% increase in demand for brochures, and a greatly increased number of visits to the VisitGuernsey website, which more than 1.3 million people visited during the year,’ said Mr Elliott (pictured).

‘We won’t be using TV and notice that Jersey have abandoned its use for 2010. TV campaigns are extremely expensive and only really work in conjunction with other campaigns.

‘A TV campaign of sufficient weight to be effective would cost in the region of £500,000 on top of the existing media which we use. While it would be nice to have as well as the rest of the campaign, it wouldn’t be effective if we spent all our media budget on TV alone.’

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