Furlough and tourism

[Daffodil101]

I’ve been lurking and posting more than usual, lately, especially around travel/tourism and mental health stuff. Probably because I work in MH and I like travelling.

I note that the vast majority of people living in tourist areas (mainly Cornwall) really don’t want tourists this year. Vested interested on my part, as I’m booked for August, though we can get a refund.

I’m wondering how to reconcile this. If people living and working in tourist places don’t want us to come this summer (August, not now) then do they have enough money to live on, indefinitely? If furloughed, are they able to cope once the furlough scheme stops in June?

Will they apply for benefits?

Cornish people on here seem adamant we shouldn’t come in August. If I had no money coming in, I’d be worried.

So how will they cope? Genuine question, as everyone I know who is furloughed feels worried about their long term job prospects.

Where will their income come from after June?

Nobody? There were previously lots of Cornish people telling us to stay away.

I’m genuinely interested in how people will earn money.

I’m interested in this. I live in a tourist city although neither mine nor dh’s jobs are at all reliant on tourism.

But I am still very apprehensive as to what is going to happen to our beautiful city. Even if all the pubs, restaurants, museums, shops etc survive the full lockdown period there are far too many of them to be sustained by the locals. So unless the tourists come back then they won’t survive in the long run. Once businesses start closing down then there will be less rates so less money for council services. If people lose their jobs there will be less people spending and so more businesses will go under and so the impact will spiral.

Our beautiful, safe, wonderful, comfortable city that everyone wants to visit could change forever.

Yeah I hear you. This is why I’m interested.

As far as I can see, this all has to be balanced up. But the Cornish mumsnetters seem very very sure that there won’t be a tourism season and they don’t want visitors.

As far as I can see, if they lose a whole season, some places may not recover. People won’t have an income, so their spending will drop. Big shops will close because they aren’t making a profit and they’ll need to cut loss making stores to survive.

It doesn’t make sense to me.

I don’t know Cornwall we’ll, but surely it’s one of the areas which has FAR too many summer visitors? Business turning people away because they don’t have tables/rooms/etc don’t make money from the extra. So wanting a quiet holiday season (eg 60% of visitors) would be enough to keep lots of businesses afloat. And then there will be a (much smaller) bunch of people who then choose to visit later in the year/earlier in next than they usually would, specialty because they missed out in the summer. Smoothing out the “feast and famine” of tourism in outdoorsy places would be great for visitors who do come, and locals.

And then you have people who didn’t want people arriving during lockdown (fair) and are being misinterpreted. Those who don’t see the whole economic disaster of a full season completely without visitors..... etc etc.

I don’t know Cornwall well (been once in October), so I’m going on reputation rather than experience.

Lots will be furloughed or have non tourist related businesses / jobs. Others of us in tourist areas who wholly rely on the peak seasons will want visitors back asap. We aren’t the majority, there are other non tourist related jobs in these areas.