French visitor numbers bounce back since ID cards allowed, but still down 50% since Brexit

Visitors from the UK continue to make up the vast majority coming to the island. Credit: ITV Channel

The number of visitors coming to Jersey from France has dropped by nearly 50% in four years, according to a Visit Jersey report.

Between January and August this year, just 53,230 people came from our nearest neighbours compared to more than 105,000 in 2019 during the same period.

However, at least part of this drop can be explained by issues around French visitors previously needing a passport to visit the island, a rule which was changed for day-trippers in April.

Visit Jersey says this led to a "strong recovery" between April and June, but this recovery "slowed significantly" in July and August.

But it's not just France, German visitors are down by nearly 50% as well - less than 10,000 came to the island between January and August this year compared to 17,870 four years ago.

The report also finds the number travelling between Jersey and the other Channel Islands remains much lower than it was pre-pandemic.

More than 41,000 people came to Jersey in 2019, but just 23,000 in 2023.

Visitors from the UK continue to make up the vast majority coming to the island, but that figure is down too - nearly 350,000 travelled in 2019, but that dropped to 271,140 this year.

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