Do you think Cornwall will be 'open' in July?

[NoSoapAndGory]

Hi all.

A purely speculative post to gauge opinions, as I know we don't know, don't have a crystal ball, etc etc.

We have booked a self catering holiday cottage near Bude for the first 10 days of July. We live in the South East, so it's about 5 hours drive to get there on a good day. We have a dog so would need to stop at a service station at least once.

As part of general future-focused conversation, DH and I are ruminating about

1: will we be 'allowed' to go
2: if we are, would we want to anyway?
3: if it's 'allowed', will the Bude community welcome us or hate us?
4: will the tourist industry want revenue or not?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Anyone else having similar discussions, and if so, what are you thinking?

I know local MPs for remote regions of the UK are working really hard at the moment to ensure that keeping their constituents safe remains a priority as lockdown is eased. They also represent the interests of businesses needing to get through this crisis, but a free-for-all isn't necessarily the only way of achieving that. I am pretty sure that it will not be business as usual for holidays this summer.

A very bitter and hollow laugh at the MPs comment, Genevieva! Our MP has been truly awful, even when second homers were piling in after lockdown (not Cornwall). The police issued a statement that they wouldn’t do anything to address it and will leave them alone. We now have reports of our homeless being fined for breaking restrictions FFS! No one here has a problem with those who arrived before lockdown was “enforced” - we do have a problem with those who travelled after and plenty did. To do that is indefensible.

@PrivacyOne

The problem is that there were plenty of vocal locals who didn't want second homers who travelled down BEFORE the lockdown either....

People saying don't come to Cornwall now aren't doing it because they hate tourists, they are saying it because we're a particularly vulnerable region.
I'm considering what measures could make my parents' holiday let tenable. Perhaps only offering Mon-Fri bookings - that would give 72 hrs between visitors. Enough time to leave the property for 48 hrs then do a deep clean. No contact between visitors and owners, ie key in a key safe, any probs with wifi, water etc have to be sorted remotely.
It's the pubs, cafes, toilets, playparks etc that wouldn't be able to social distance. Imagine the Eden Project...

That's a shame. I know ours is. And the local police have been stopping traffic. I actually don't have much a problem with second home owners who have a dedicated home of their own that they don't rent out. The impact of that is much lower than from holiday camps and cottages that are registered as businesses. As a few people have said - there is relatively low risk associated with someone driving from one door to the next, keeping themselves to themselves and going for the odd walk on the beach. The problem is simply one of maths rather than individuals. The more people move around the country, the greater the risk that we undo all the good work done during lockdown. I don't see the government allowing that to happen. It is far more likely that there will be substantially more freedom locally before mass movement of people over large distances is made possible for leisure purposes.

Well, I can’t speak for the vocal locals as I’m not one of them. I shrug my shoulders with second homers by and large - they are a fact of life here. I would say that Italy and Spain suffered greatly as those more fortunate went to their retreats. The writing was on the wall so far as lots of people were concerned. However, I will stick my head above the parapet when there is such obvious inequality.

So will the Cornish people holiday in Cornwall this year?

We could all stay at home until there’s a vaccine. Just go to school/work locally.

Just to say; please don't come to Devon (or Dorset) either.
We'd love you to come back when transmission is reduced and we've got proper contact tracing sorted out, so we can properly deal with any clusters of infection.
Ta ever so.

Sorry meant to add...but then you couldn’t have it both ways, people couldn’t leave their regions to go somewhere like London. London people would have to stay in London. When the theatres eventually open, only London people should buy tickets.

If there’s no vaccine in the foreseeable, airports would more or less close, especially regional ones like Exeter, Bristol, Southampton. Golf courses, surf lifeguards, swimming pool attendants, people working in cinema. Associated suppliers.

People working in ice cream shops. Farms that produce the milk for ice cream. People who make the packaging. Shops hiring out wetsuits. Surf instructors. People serving coffee. People producing coffee.

Without the income, these people will stop spending. Large chains would close stores, especially stores where they aren’t making money, places where people are out of work. Places reliant on tourists. So some shops would close permanently in Cornwall.

This is presumably what the government is charged with weighing up. I wouldn’t like to be responsible, it’s a rock and a hard place. Remains to be seen which is harder, but when they decide, based on scientific evidence and advice (rather than mumsnet) we’ll have to live with the decision. If they say it’s safe to go on holiday, I’ll go. If not, I’ll roll the holiday over to next year. The point is, I really hope the science says it’s ok to go, with precautions, because if not, places like Cornwall will really suffer, and as I like the county and the people of the county, I’m choosing optimism.

@wuthering please don’t come up north either and infect us with your covid and smug, southern ways. Cheers pal!

I'd certainly hope no one in Cornwall is going on holiday this summer either, for the same reasons we don't want visitors coming here, and also the fact they will have to come home at some point, potentially bringing infection down with them.

Aww come on. We northerners are a lovely lot! Some of us can even wash our hands.

We are a bit stuffed in N Wales, holiday makers on coach tours becoming ill because they tend to be elderly who eat sensibly at home then go for it on holidays here, three meals a day plus all you can drink. We have sneaked a few corpses out in a wheelchair so as not to frighten the inmates at the hotel I used to work at.

Then in the winter because we have a load of retirees from the cities, who become ill, whole wards within the three hospitals being closed because of norovirus.

It would be nice at times to have a mixed bag of ages here like in the cities.

Why don’t they just put police checkpoints on the A30 as it leaves and enters Cornwall this year? And in Devon. And Dorset. And Somerset, Kent, Sussex.....all counties where anyone might want to go. Just let essential vehicles in and out.

The problem with opening up places in the UK is that we now have a situation where probably 10m or more people who were due to go abroad this summer, now won’t be so will all want to descend on the UK resorts. That is a big problem both in terms of travel/motorways and the resorts themselves. I’m not sure how the government will play this one with the risks involved.

If there’s no vaccine in the foreseeable

The next step is not a vaccine, it is social distancing, testing, tracing and isolation to keep the infection rate at manageable levels.

The aim will be to slowly return to normal life as much as possible, while monitoring the infection rate to ensure that the health service can cope. However, for some industries like tourism and theatre, the problem is not just whether it is possible to maintain safe social distancing, but whether it is possible to do that and cover costs.

@justasking111 I visit North Wales and I’m in my 20s, but you’re right it’s literal coach loads of over-80s, they’re normally from south manc/Cheshire/merseyside are they not, so as not to be too far from home ?

If they shut down the airports I would be happy to let the UK inmates to have a break at the beaches. Social distancing and all. We cannot control where outsiders/overseas have been. If they landed flew in here with green skin and weeping pustules, would they be stopped???

The amount of accommodation is finite, Ketchup. Cornwall gets pretty booked up. We usually go to St Ives and it’s hard to get something last minute.

Those h ok issuing abroad can’t simply switch to Cornwall unless there’s something available to book.

Perhaps the answer is for all of those responsible Cornish people (and others in other places) to take all rental properties off the market?

The restaurants wouldn’t be pleased though.

And actually if you look, they aren’t doing that.

So perhaps that’s a solution? Make it impossible to rent out holiday accommodation? Combine that with checkpoints on the A30.

Does that sound a bit batshit? It does to me, but it solves the worries.

Yes merry mouse, the next step is track and trace etc. And that should be in place by July/August. Which is what this thread is asking.

However some of the responses imply that Cornwall will be closed this summer. The two don’t match.

So - question - if track/trace and all associates social distancing is in place, Will Cornwall be open in July/August?

Because I honestly can’t follow the logic of a thread that says it definitely won’t be, it’s irresponsible to visit, nobody should go anywhere, if we know those measures will be in place.

If people STILL think Cornwall should be closed with those measures in place, they must think it should stay closed pending a vaccine.

329 in england

I suspect a lot of Cornwall residents hope not!

I read cornish beaches, car parks are shut down. so even if no visitors come the locals will not be able to enjoy their paradise this summer.

I suspect a lot of them have livelihoods relying on the premise that it will be.

Does that sound a bit batshit? It does to me, but it solves the worries.

Nobody can judge what is batshit until we have tests and tracking systems.

At some point in the future it may be possible for the government to say that infection is being managed at a rate that enables the tourism industry to reopen, but it is unlikely that that point will be reached by July because it's almost May and there is no national tracking system and we don't even know when the current lockdown will end.

It will be definitely be impossible to rent holiday accommodation in August if have had to return to lockdown.