Allocations to Visit Jersey and Ports of Jersey

2025.09.30

4.4   Deputy S.M. Ahier of St. Helier North of the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development regarding the recent allocation of £2m to Visit Jersey and £1m to Ports of Jersey (OQ.215/2025):

Further to the publication of R.142/2025, Better Business Support Package Q1-2 2025 Delivery Report, will the Minister explain the rationale behind the allocation of £2 million to Visit Jersey and £1 million to Ports of Jersey; and is it his intention to give similar grants to these 2 entities next year?

Deputy K.F. Morel of St. John , St. Lawrence and Trinity (The Minister for Sustainable

Economic Development):

The Better Business Support Package is designed to provide key investments into our economy to help secure increased productivity and its long-term growth. The package, as the Assembly will know, is a 2-year programme and while we will be evaluating the impacts of the investment it is highly likely that the grants will remain the same in 2026.

1. Deputy S.M. Ahier :

Visit Jersey received £5 million from the Government in 2018 and they still receive £5 million in 2024. This is clearly a large reduction in real terms, taking inflation into account. Has the Minister made this £2 million allocation because he accepts that Visit Jersey is underfunded?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

I do think that Visit Jersey has struggled with funding because that funding had not changed for many, many years. It is absolutely correct that obviously an extra £2 million in funding this year and an extra £2 million in funding the next year will be of great value for Visit Jersey and in promoting the Island as a tourism destination.

2. Deputy I. Gardiner of St. Helier North :

We know that the passenger numbers and hotel nights are key performance indicators to visit Jersey, yet both are falling. What specific performance measures, targets, has the Minister attached to the £2 million grant and how will Islanders know that this investment delivers value for money?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

There are key performance indicators around all of the grants via the Better Business Support Package. I could not recall them all right now, but I would be happy to advise the Deputy via email.

3. Deputy I. Gardiner :

First of all, thank you for the Minister that hopefully it will be published. It is not just for my attention or States Members' attention, but also for the public. Would the Minister confirm that the most important key performance indicator for the investment is actually increased visitors' numbers and their nights staying, investing in the economy?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

The whole concept behind the extra visitor support money for Visit Jersey was entirely to try to secure as many visitors as possible. I think that also needs to be balanced off with the environment with which they are working in. Whether it is always an increased amount of visitors, I think it is hard to guarantee. But the idea is to enable them to advertise and sell Jersey to as many people as possible to, yes, hopefully increase the number of visitors to the Island.

4. Deputy R.S. Kovacs of St. Saviour :

This is following up from the previous question. [10:00]

I am also interested for the public to understand what specific outcomes or benefits - the few main ones - does the Minister expect from the £2 million allocated both to Visit Jersey and Ports of Jersey? Will future funding be subject to performance review or clear conditions before they repeat next year?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

The Better Business Support Package was designed to be a 2-year package, and there is an expectation that there would be this additional grant for Visit Jersey next year as well. If they were to have failed in some ways against the expectations then maybe it would be reviewed but my understanding is that Visit Jersey is deploying the money as would be expected.

5. Deputy S.M. Ahier :

Marketing of Jersey as a tourist attraction has been increasingly underfunded and we need to raise our profile as a holiday destination. A lot of this funding has gone to promote the "Bergerac" TV series. Does the Minister have data to suggest that this has increased visitor numbers or could the money have been better directed?

Deputy K.F. Morel :

The decision to deploy any funding by Visit Jersey on to the "Bergerac" TV series was entirely

that of Visit Jersey's. In their view, they believed it the best way to create an understanding and promotion of Jersey and so it was their decision. The concept with arm's-length organisations is that they are expert organisations who themselves decide where best to spend this money to best effect. So that decision was theirs. With regard to funding, I do believe we need to increase funding for Visit Jersey and for the tourism economy. That is something in the world where inflation, certainly advertising inflation, has been significant over the past 10 years. There is no doubt that there has been a diminishment in real terms in Visit Jersey's budget, and I will continue to work with fellow Ministers to try to find sources to increase their funding on a sustainable basis beyond these 2 years.