Jersey Tourism Targets New Growth with Fresh Focus on France

Jersey’s tourism chiefs say attracting more visitors from France will be a key priority next year, following a noticeable decline in arrivals from across the Channel.

Visit Jersey chief executive Tricia Warwick confirmed that the island had seen fewer French tourists during 2025, a trend she partly attributed to disruption during the transition of ferry services from Condor to DFDS.

Newly released data shows that 392,500 people travelled to Jersey in the year to September — a fall of 79,300 compared with the same period in 2024.

Warwick said the delay in finalising DFDS’s contract had affected the island’s ability to secure early ferry bookings, particularly from France.

“The challenge was not being on sale as early as we wanted, due to the negotiations taking longer than expected,” she explained. “We did lose ferry business, especially from the French market, and we weren’t able to make that back. So France will be a major focus for us next year as we work to rebuild those numbers.”

A DFDS spokesperson said the company’s agreement with the Government of Jersey was signed on 31 December 2024, leaving limited time before the launch of operations on 28 March.

They said the “short mobilisation period” meant tickets could not go on sale as early as usual, inevitably affecting forward bookings, including those highlighted by Visit Jersey.

According to the company, ferry timetables for the ports of Portsmouth, Poole, St Malo and Jersey were published on 23 January, enabling ticket sales to open as quickly as possible. DFDS has since released its 2026 schedules earlier than usual, giving customers a longer booking window.

Tourism trends

The latest statistics show that 53,300 people visited Jersey in September, 10,900 fewer than in the same month last year. Overnight leisure visits also dipped, falling by 6,700 to 31,300.

However, those who did visit stayed slightly longer, with the average length of stay increasing from 4.4 to 4.7 nights year-on-year.

Visit Jersey noted that some comparisons were affected by updates to its exit survey, which now uses a refined weighting method.

Despite the challenges, Warwick said she remained positive about the future, pointing to Jet2’s planned increase in flights to the island from 2026 as a boost for connectivity and future visitor growth.