It’s been another productive period, with strong performance across accommodation, growing audience reach, and a series of high-profile partnerships and media opportunities helping to showcase the Islands. From standout campaign activity and trade engagement, to exciting coverage and upcoming events, there’s plenty to share.
In this edition:
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Our accommodation occupancy for April hit 65% topping April 2025 by 11%.
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Guernsey to feature in British Airways June sale to be seen by millions.
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Travel Trade Summit success - a big thank you from the VG team.
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We've teamed up with Foodism Magazine to promote our gastronomy scene.
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A taste of the Islands - we've helped train 60 Premier Holidays agents to sell Guernsey.
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New media coverage secured in the Mirror, the Mail, and Metro.
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Rendez-vous aux jardins - 12 open garden events this weekend.
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Our audience continues to grow - reach them with one of our partnership packages.
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US TV show 'Sara's Weeknight Meals' cooks up iconic Guernsey dish on-island.
We’re pleased to report that April occupancy reached 65%, marking a significant increase of 11% compared to April 2025. This means that in three of the first four months of the year, occupancy has outperformed last year’s levels. The only exception was February, which was just 1% below 2025 figures.
Data from our monthly occupancy survey - shared with accommodation providers and including a three-month forward outlook - also indicates healthy current forecasts for May, June, and July. There remains, however, a much shorter booking pattern, heightened by the current global geopolitical climate, creating understandable nervousness for both providers and travellers.
In addition, our digital advertising has performed strongly so far this year, especially across social media channels, reaching 2.4 million people by the end of April. Visits to the VisitGuernsey website have increased by 3.51% compared to the same period last year, and it is encouraging to see this growing interest translating into bookings, as reflected in the improved occupancy rate.
We have been working with the British Airways Holidays team to take part in the sale which runs from 4th - 25th June. The paid partnership will focus on brand awareness and conversion across Facebook and Instagram, in the London and South East regions, with ads featuring VisitGuernsey creative with a BA call to action - ‘Holiday in Guernsey from £219 per person, incl. flights and two nights accommodation’.
British Airways Holidays is the dedicated Tour Operator for British Airways and their three annual sales are their biggest tactical campaigns of the year, each sale with its own creative identity, sitting within their well-established ‘British Originals’ concept. The UK ranked number 1 airline carries more than 43 million passengers a year, with a significant social media reach - 3.4m on Facebook, 1.4m on Instagram, 400k on YouTube, 275k on TikTok and more than 910k on LinkedIn.
Last month, we had the pleasure of welcoming trade partners from the UK, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Jersey, Alderney, Herm and Sark to the Islands of Guernsey Travel Trade Summit.
More than 20 representatives from across the UK and Europe, along with over 50 local partners, came together for a three-day event, with more than 400 meetings taking place.
We’re incredibly grateful to all our partners for their support - thank you to everyone involved in making the summit such a success.
You can read more about the event here.
To support promotion of The Big Eat festival, and our broader focus on food for 2026, we have partnered with Foodism magazine on a combination of editorial and advertorial activity.
This collaboration began with a full-page advertisement in the April issue, alongside banner advertising on the Foodism website throughout May. Later in the year, activity will build to include a seven-day homepage takeover, as well as full-page features both online and in print.
In April, we also hosted a Foodism journalist as part of our food-focused media trip, and we look forward to her forthcoming coverage, which will help bring the campaign to life and reinforce the messaging across channels.
Foodism has a print circulation of 109,000 and reaches a further 32,000 engaged newsletter subscribers.
Following the success of last year’s ‘Taste of the Islands’ training, we hosted a joint Channel Islands and Isle of Man virtual event with Premier Holidays earlier this month, bringing together 60 agents from 27 branches.
The session featured a destination showcase of Guernsey alongside Jersey and the Isle of Man, with each island providing a taste of local produce. From Guernsey, agents enjoyed Rocquette cider or Guernsey-brewed kombucha as an alcohol-free alternative, along with Sark’s Caragh Chocolates, which proved to be a firm favourite.
These agents are now fully equipped to sell the Islands of Guernsey as a tourism destination to their customers, helping to inspire future bookings and drive continued growth across our key markets.
March through June are traditionally our busiest months for hosting media visits, and this year has been no exception. In April, we welcomed Saskia Rowland from The Mirror, who travelled on British Airways’ inaugural Heathrow service. We’re pleased to share that her article has now been published online, reaching audiences via The Mirror (18 million unique monthly visitors) and The Express (12 million UMV).
We’ve also recently secured coverage in Metro following a visit from journalist Jed Bradley in May. His article, “I spent 48 hours in the ‘pocket-sized paradise’ between England and France,” highlights Guernsey’s strong gastronomy offering alongside a range of other island experiences. Metro has a reach of 6.9 million UMV.
View our media coverage here.
We’re pleased to support Rendez-vous aux Jardins, taking place from 5-7 June, as part of the Normandy programme of this European event organised by the French Ministry of Culture. This year’s theme, “The View”, invites visitors to experience gardens from new perspectives and to appreciate the colours, details and design that make outdoor spaces so distinctive.
Across the islands, 12 open garden events will take place over the weekend, offering visitors the opportunity to explore some of our most beautiful green spaces. Arrivals will also be welcomed with a striking floral box installation by Grow at the harbour, setting the tone for a weekend celebrating horticulture, creativity and the natural environment.
Find out more.
We're continuing to see strong growth across our channels, with both our social media following - now 41,000 on Facebook - and VisitGuernsey traffic - up 3.51% compared to last year - on the rise.
Our partnership packages are designed to help you tap directly into this engaged audience.
We offer a range of options - from ready-made packages to tailored opportunities - giving you access to featured website content, targeted email campaigns to our database of over 60,000 subscribers, social media promotion, and blog features.
If you'd like to find our more, please email victoria.allen2@gov.gg
American chef, author and television personality Sara Moulton is in Europe shooting Season 15 of 'Sara’s Weeknight Meals' aboard the Oceania's Marina cruise ship. Sara was Julia Child's culinary producer before stints at Good Morning America and Gourmet Magazine.
She was a founding chef on the Food Network, famous for cooking live every night and answering viewers questions. In addition to reaching millions on her PBS show, Sara has a significant social media following of more than 1million fans.
The ship's itinerary brought them into Guernsey in May, and we've worked with the show's producer over the past months to film an iconic Guernsey dish with local partners for the latest season.
We're looking forward to seeing the episode when it airs in October 2026.
Stay tuned.
