Information centres: they’re worth their weight in tourism

A trip to the Channel Islands was on senior writer Mary Anne Gill’s bucket list but putting together an itinerary from New Zealand became something of a struggle until she emailed the Jersey Information Centre.

Mary Anne Gill

This might seem like a travel piece on the Channel Islands, but it is really about the economic importance of having locals who can answer tourist queries in person, by email, website or phone.

When I booked my return trip to Hong Kong and United Kingdom earlier this year, I mentioned to the travel agent how keen I was to visit the Channel Islands.

She looked at me blankly as if I was asking to fly to the moon, so I went online and within half an hour I had emailed the information centre in Jersey.

Overnight I had a response and by week’s end my seven-day trip was organised. It was impressive and three months later, when the van driver picked me up at Jersey Airport – memories of that British crime series Bergerac flooding my senses – the bucket list dream came true.

Selfie time: Fellow Kiwis Melissa Ashford, left, and Mary Anne Gill during their tour of the Jersey coast line.

When I mentioned the speed of the response to Cambridge i-Site general manager Ruth Crampton, she was unsurprised and told me about the hundreds of queries she and the Destination Cambridge team field every month.

At the time she was negotiating with tourism operators and Waipā District Council to keep the i-Site open.

She argued, successfully, that tourists/visitors to Cambridge relied on organisations like Destination Cambridge for reliable, local information.

My holiday in Channel Islands provided affirmation of that.

Kiwis Mary Anne Gill, bottom left, and Melissa Ashford, bottom right, joined up with a bus trip around Jersey and visited Mont Orgueil Castle in the background.

The information centre put me onto Premier Holidays in Jersey who arranged for a transfer on Tantivy Blue Coach Tours from the airport to my accommodation and my travel representative Linden was there to greet me. She lives locally and took me through the various day trip options available.

I opted on day one for a minibus tour around the island.

It is true what they say, wherever you go in the world, Kiwis are always there. Melissa from Paraparaumu lives in the UK while she waits to sort a visa out and we ended up being the adventurous ones on the tour.

We left St Helier from Liberation Square outside the famous Pomme d’Or Hotel which was used as the Nazi naval headquarters during the Germans’ occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II.

It was here where King Charles and Queen Camilla were ushered into on the first day of their royal tour last month following a security concern.

Our driver Kevin Kerrigan came from Newcastle in the UK 42 years ago to work as an engraver and is now a travel guide who tailors the trips to his audience.

Driver Kevin Kerrigan

Hence, he was able to talk about Orpheus Beaumont nee Newman who was born in Jersey days after New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster when the HMS Orpheus – for whom she is named – sank at the entrance to Manukau Harbour on February 7, 1863.

Her family moved to Dunedin in 1870 and Orpheus was haunted as a child by thoughts of drowning at sea. In 1912 her brother William drowned and months later the Titanic sank. A competition was held to invent a better life jacket and she won with her design made from a cotton-like material harvested from the kapok tree. She died in 1951, aged 88.

Kevin mentions he hears dairying is pretty big in New Zealand too, so we go in hunt of some jersey cows. But dairying is taking a hit there because land previously used for it is now taken up with cannabis which grows well in the Channel Islands and is legally available.

Jersey cows in Jersey

He also tells me about Mary Ann who inspired the beer that made Jersey famous.

We went to St Aubin’s Bay, St Brelade Bay, Mont Orgueil Castle, Corbière Lighthouse, St Ouen’s Bay, the northern coastline, Gorey Harbour and returned via the east coast. My three days in Jersey included a trip to the Maritime Museum and the Liberation Tapestry, the Jersey Museum, a ride on Le Petit Train along the harbour, a walking tour around the town and Hohlgangsanlage 8 Jersey War Tunnels – also known as the German Underground Hospital.

Bernard Scheidhauer of the Free French Air Force serving with the RAF’s 131 (County of Kent) Squadron, crash landed in Jersey and was captured by the Germans. There is a recently unveiled memorial to him on Jersey.

Guernsey is smaller than Jersey. I pop into the Guernsey Information Centre in St Peter Port where Jean Brown helps me out and recommends a walking tour and several bus trips on Guernsey’s excellent public transport system.

I hear about plans to move the information centre from its seafront site and downsize it into town which the Guernsey Press newspaper has since been reporting. Waikato is not the only region in the world facing tough decisions about information centres.

See: Anzacs honoured in Guernsey

Peter Griffin of Guernsey bought this boat called Kaikoura, seen leaving Herm, seven years ago and now uses it to fish the seas around the Channel Islands.

I also had day trips to two other Channel Islands – Sark and Herm, where I met Peter Griffin on his boat called Kaikoura – and commemorated Anzac Day at Fort George in Guernsey with fellow New Zealanders – including Jonathan Bates who organised the service –  Australians, the Dean of Guernsey, lieutenant governor Richard Cripwell, baliff Richard McMahon and Royal British Legion president Bob Place.

None of this trip would have been possible without the expertise of the Channel Islanders at information centres, travel agencies, bus drivers and retailers. It was a win-win for everyone.