Future of tourism is ‘not looking good’ - museum owner
The owner of a local museum has said that the tourism industry has become fragmented since Covid and committees need to work together.
Richard Heaume, who built the German Occupation Museum from artefacts he collected after the Occupation, has said that the lack of support since the pandemic has meant his business is no longer profitable.
‘When Covid came, everyone’s priorities were elsewhere, but they’ve never really gone back. With the new States in 2020, we saw a move away from Visit Guernsey as a partnership and now we have a fragmented tourist industry,’ he said.
‘In 2020 we had no business, in 2021 it picked up slightly, as with 2022 and 2023, but it has not got back to 2019 levels when we were getting about 10,000 visitors a year.
‘We’re not actually breaking even right now, it’s a very tricky problem.’
He said that the loss of the Culture & Leisure Committee has split the tourism industry between Economic Development and Education, Sport & Culture, but everything needed to come under the same umbrella for Guernsey to boost its economy.
Between the two States committees, the Hospitality Association and the Tourist Management Board, everyone is working alone and pulling in their own direction, he said.
‘The future is not looking good, even with cruise ships, the bigger ones are no longer coming and we can’t depend on cruise ship passengers anyway. We need people to come here, to stay here and to spend money,’ said Mr Heaume.
‘I don’t see things improving. I have voiced concerns to the tourism board that we need to market Guernsey all year round. I have one of the few attractions that is open every day of the year except Christmas Day, but year-round tourism will keep the hotels going and the staff over.’
Some of Mr Heaume’s ideas include more marketing of the island with a bigger budget, as well as seeing through the Victor Hugo Centre and perhaps reproducing Renoir’s paintings to display in a permanent gallery.
‘If tourism comes under one umbrella we can regulate and control the attractions. You have one voice to publicise all the things in the island and work as a team. We’re working with several different groups at the moment and everyone is on their own, and sadly a lot of the island’s
attractions have fallen by the wayside, but hopefully we can resurrect what we’ve got and build on it for the future,’ he said.
