Concerns About Tourists/2nd Home Owners Visiting At Easter

[EternalOptimist7]

I am lucky enough to live in Cornwall. Things are getting better ( actually we have had some of the lowest Covid death figures in the country) but I do worry that the floodgates will open in the next school holidays. It’s such a difficult situation because Cornwall is a poor county & gets a lot of income from tourism & we have to think of the economy. But equally, loads of people coming down on holiday could set things back. Second home owners are a whole different ballgame. I am aware that feelings are running high. Just wondering what people’s thoughts are, whether you are local or not.

@Screwcorona *I'm dreading it..as we had very low cases, then heaps of people appeared at xmas, got a massive spike and we're finally at a low level.

Due a baby in may at treliske and I'm so scared. I wish boris would hold it off for one more month.*

You do know that 1. Everywhere in the UK got a massive spike at Christmas and it was nothing to do with people gong to Cornwall, and 2. Boris is unlikely to put the whole country on hold for another month because you are having a baby?

I live in an AONB and have a car park at the end of my track. It has been packed with people coming in to walk in the forest for the duration of lockdown. However I know it’s not my car park and not my forest and I am just fortunate enough to live there. I have managed not to screech like some of the Cornwall locals at people who want to visit the area.

Over in other threads, people are saying that there is no need to go abroad on holiday, we have enough nice places in this country. So what are we to do when the holiday spot locals say ‘don’t come here?’ I work in the international travel industry, so I’d happily see foreign holidays back on the cards, but if the uk is where we are required to go, then that’s where people will go. No one ‘owns’ Cornwall, and it’s tourist industry has to thrive too. We often see Cornwall residents saying it is a poor region - it would be an awful lot poorer if it ditched the tourism trade and went back to tin mining!

Are Cornish residents petitioning the council to stop farmers diversifying by establishing caravan and campsites on their fields? Are they asking for the Park Dean style sites to be made smaller? What about reducing the number of hotels in Newquay? If there isn’t anywhere to stay the tourist numbers will drop. Of course the farmers, housekeeping staff, hotel and restaurant owners, and attractions will lose income but that’s a small price to pay to reduce tourist numbers.

Anyway nobody wants dickish people who, by accident of birth or lack of resources, live in grim inner cities or industrial towns to pollute the beautiful countryside and pretty villages belonging to people who are lucky enough to be born there or are wealthy enough to relocate.

I visited Cornwall every year for about eighteen years. I sought out remote beaches and rural walks. I am not dickish, I do not litter, and as I live rurally in another part of the country I am well aware of the Countryside Code. I am not sure I will ever go back now I know how hated I am. Devon is looking attractive.

We live in London and usually spend our holidays in a family member's second home in a non-touristy bit of Norfolk (in fact it's one of the places that gets called a dive whenever MNetters talk about Norfolk ).

As @BoKatan said upthread, the outbreaks in Norfolk have mostly been in factories and poorer communities, not because of tourism. We can't expect communities that rely on income from tourism to stay afloat if there's no money coming in. We're planning a holiday there this year, and we'll be avoiding the North Norfolk beaches in favour of the east coast ones and hoping for the best.

The most vociferous complainers are retirees, who have moved to cOrnwall and then expect the tourist industry to shut up shop to suit them.

Avenueofcherryblossom Are Cornish residents petitioning the council to stop farmers diversifying by establishing caravan and campsites on their fields? Are they asking for the Park Dean style sites to be made smaller?

Residents in Croyde did just win a high court battle to stop Parkdean from expanding not Cornwall obvs but...

Croyde victory

I have a holiday property in Cornwall that is not ready for guests. It doesn’t even have WiFi or bedding.

With guests arriving on April 12th, I am most certainly going down to get it ready and ensure my guests have the necessary equipment. I’m not going until April 9th. I’m taking my children because I can’t leave them.

I could have gone at Easter, really, but I’m leaving it as late as possible.

So where do I stand?

We’re coming down to check on our holiday home as soon as it is lawful. It has been empty for months and we are worried about damp, and the garage needs a roof put on it as all the stuff in it is slowly getting ruined (collapsed old asbestos roof). We will social distance wherever we are, masks etc. We may also go for walks on the beach. I make no apology for that. I am sure plenty of Cornish residents will visit friends and family around the country too.

OP, please report every single second home owner who visits over Easter, without exception. I hope all other locals in Cornwall do the same.

Oh and we are remote, not in a town or village so see very few people.

@Sparrowfeeder it's always been lawful to visit second homes for maintenance purposes.

Have a lovely time while you're there

We're probably going away in the Easter holidays to a holiday cottage from 12-17th

It's allowed if it's people from the same household

The residents vs tourists argument has been done to death!! Grow up for god’s sake.

@sparrowfeeder I agree completely. Leaving a house locked up for months on end isn't as simple as it sounds. My insurance will now be invalid, so I hope there are no damp issues, that the piped didn't freeze over winter and that no one has broken into it.

Thanks @darelask. We know but we had a visit from the police last time we were there (to remove the asbestos for H&S reasons) just for an enquiry and even though we were there lawfully (no police action taken) just didn’t enjoy the ‘unwelcome’ feeling.

Exactly @lillg. We are legally responsible for the property and it is in noone’s interest for houses to get neglected and dilapidated. Hope your place is ok when you return

I live in a tourist spot and all I’ve done this last year is walk on the beaches. You’re all very welcome to the beach for the summer, I’ve had enough.
I’ll be off to a city with shops and restaurants and museums and international grocers and culture at the first opportunity!

@backinthebox that's not really helpful.

Everyone had a spike because there was a sudden rush of movement/travel and increased contact in family. I don't want another spike, so I don't want holiday homes open.

I obviously don't expect boris to base this plan on my baby but I do want my baby to be safe, so I am not wrong to wish it would hold off for another month.

I cannot avoid going to hospital. Our hospital is small compared to the sudden influx of population that will appear in a few weeks. It is scary

I think there's room for a middle ground in some of these opinions isn't there? It's possible to recognise that tourism is a vital part of the economy of many areas of the country but that often these areas have poor road systems and a lack of other infrastructure that make excessive number difficult to cope with. It seems fair to recognise that this summer and last summer will be even busier than normal and that such is the desire for fresh air and a change of scenery, scenes like those we saw last year in Bournemouth etc might be repeated. I don't think it's particularly divisive to say that no one wants that again.

I live in a historic city with a racecourse and a large retail park nearby (possibly the same one as the previous poster) and we have an air bnb next door. I won't lie, every time we hear someone arrive (the walls are worse than paper thin) we get anxious about how they will behave. People on holiday, wherever that is, often seem to forget that not everyone is on holiday and that they may not be able to do exactly as they please with no regard for anyone else. Nonetheless I recognise that tourism is a hefty part of our economy and is necessary. I think air bnb is well overdue some regulation though!

So I guess I'm saying I understand the apprehension whilst also thinking there is some merit to the argument that if your economy is based on tourism you have to deal with tourists. One thing that does frustrate me is Cornwall is sometimes talked about as if it is totally unique in the issues it faces. It's not, there are plenty of rural areas with poor road networks and a lack of infrastructure that face tourist influxes each year. It's not only the west country (and I used to live there, so feel somewhat justified in this opinion!).

The rise in cases, as you yourself seem to understand, was as a result of people who already live in or come from Cornwall mixing with their families, combined with a more easily spread strain of virus. It was nothing to do with tourists/second home owners. The rise in the number of cases happened everywhere, and the only way to keep it out of Cornwall would have been to build a wall and prevent anyone from coming in - even Ethel from down the road’s daughter who’s been at that there university in the big smoke and who came home for the Christmas holidays like she does every year.

I would suggest that if you don’t want to live in a tourist area, find somewhere else to live. It’s a valid reason - people move for all sorts of reasons and not liking the industrial make-up of an area is as good a reason as any. However, I suspect that the major cause of people moving around once they are able to will in the first instance not be for a holiday - it will be for visiting family. So batten down the hatches, tell Ethel’s daughter to stay where she moved to (it was her own stupid fault to move away anyway) and make sure you don’t have any family come and visit. Your own visitors are more of a risk to you than some random family coming to fix the leak in their holiday home.

As for the ‘sudden influx of population’ - I have not seen any evidence anywhere that any hospital, even those in busy tourist areas, have been overwhelmed by sick holidaymakers, so I think your comparison of the number of potential holidaymakers vs the size of the hospital is a bit like comparing apples with oranges. Maternity wings are as a rule entirely separate, even in the tiniest of hospitals, from acute medicine and A&E departments. So unless there is an influx of covid-carrying pregnant tourists all planning to have their babies at your local hospital, I think you will be fine.

Isle of Wight has a teeny tiny hospital. The predicted surge didn't happen last summer.

OP I’m with you. I live in a very touristy area of Cornwall. Tourists are great for our economy and ordinarily I’ve no problem with them coming to town. I work in hospitality so it’s very clear to me that without tourism, we’d be screwed.

However, last summer was just insane. Cornwalls population usually goes from 500k to 5m in the summer but it felt like it had doubled (no idea about the actual stats). It was impossible to walk to the local shop in the middle of the day because the pavements were packed and no-one was socially distancing. I work in a hotel and people were trying to sit in groups bigger than 6, using the same excuse as pp that they wouldn’t wear masks because ‘there’s no COVID in Cornwall and I’ve come down here to get away from all that nonsense’ and being verbally abusive to staff who were trying to enforce Boris’ rules.

I’m not saying that every tourist is a dick, far from it, most people (like anywhere) are polite and considerate.our visitors and guests are lovely. But the sheer volume of people who came down and the number who disregarded the rules was crazy!

@Thidwick It was impossible to walk to the local shop in the middle of the day because the pavements were packed

I live in an AONB in south central England. On a normal day (pre-Covid) I could walk to the village shop a mile away and not see anyone else, and if I took myself off into the forest I could be on my own for hours. But now, during lockdowns when all the children are at home and anyone who can work from home is being encouraged to, it is nearly impossible to walk around our village or woods without bumping into people every couple of minutes. My husband works from home now, and in order to fit exercise into his day as the swimming pool and gym are closed, he likes to walk early in the morning before his first zoom meeting. I went with him a few times, and it was impossible to walk along the dirt track running past my house without bumping into other people even early in the morning. It doesn’t get quieter as the day goes on. These are people who live here who suddenly find themselves at home a lot more, and who cannot go to the gym, swimming, to golf, football or whatever else it was they did before. There are also dozens and dozens of people parking up outside my house to walk around the forest who have driven in from neighbouring areas. Our quiet little river crossing, usually deserted, is now like some kind of busy beach resort with the number of people bringing their kids to paddle in the river on a sunny day. The village shop will only allow 2 people in at a time, so there is often a queue. This phenomenon of not being able to go anywhere is not entirely because of tourists. Yes, they are part of the issue, but everywhere is busier! Nothing is open, and people are bored. Every single part of the UK has had problems with people just going somewhere else because they are bored and there is nothing else to do. You can’t stop people coming to Cornwall once they are allowed to any more than I can stop people walking in the forest near me or paddling in the river. And it’s not a uniquely Cornish problem, although the attitude of the locals does seem to be particularly more unfriendly in the Cornwall direction!

NNUH (Norwich) was a designated London overflow surge centre. Norfolk was actually highly resourced to take extra patients should they happen.

Case Data/100k for early October 2020. tbf, Exeter is near the top, but an odd one out next to Liverpool, Sheffield, Bolton, Manchester... most the touristy places are far far down that list.

I was concerned last year but Easter was quiet, people did as was requested. In summer, when we reopened our fears did not come to fruition. So, I see reasons to be positive this year, not negative.

@backinthebox it is a little busier than usual at the moment for the reasons you describe - people working from home more, appreciating their local area more etc which is completely understandable. What I’m taking about is different. The minute people were allowed on holiday, the beach, pubs, pavements, roads and car parks were absolutely stuffed full. There was no social distancing taking place and people didn’t seem to think (or care) that COVID was around. There was no thought to their safety or that of others.

I sought quiet walks and parks further inland but many other locals (and a few tourists I’m sure) had the same idea and they were busy too. The problem isn’t tourists coming down on holiday in the usual manner, it seems to be that people couldn’t go abroad on their usual holidays so descended on Cornwall en mass instead, COVID be damned.