Will Devon & Cornwall be ok to go to in July?

[EinsteinaGogo]

We are in a real dilemma.. We have to pay the balance on our holiday in the next couple of weeks which is about another £800 on top of the £400 deposit already paid.

We've gone for a self catering holiday flat on the Devon / Cornwall border for last week of June /
first week in July.

Don't really want to go if the touristy places we'd usually go to aren't open but our holiday company are only offering a reschedule so will lose our money if we cancel. We have a family wedding next year (hopefully) so we don't want to rebook.

We were pretty sure we'd still be in lockdown and be able to get a refund but now that the new rules are in place, I don't know if we are or aren't allowed to go.

AIBU to think we should be able to get our deposit back?

and yet we were able to claim. People must try their insurers first

In the days when we could afford to rent UK holiday cottages (out of peak season, before we had a school-age child), we never paid for insurance. Some will call us foolhardy, but we figured that we had breakdown cover for when travelling and are Brits in the UK, so could access the NHS anywhere.

I'm glad if having the insurance has helped some more cautious folk this year, but I rather fancy that, at renewal, all new policies are going to have standard clauses that specifically exclude anything pandemic-related.

@ITonyah I don't think you get economics , if local people find themselves without jobs they can't then buy as much local or spend on restaurants and pubs etc when open
Bearing in mind we are going to all go into a recession anyway and with a large a mount of money to be paying back in years to come
Surely the sensible thing to do is wait and see if guidelines change and maybe consider slowly introduce tourism as and when it's allowed in a controlled and manage ways
Spain , Greece etc are all having to think how they can make it work long term as well , if it was as simple as the virus will be gone by next year let's hold off but it isn't we don't know when we will get a vaccine or such

Our balance for mid June was due just before the last announcement. It was long obvious that it wouldn't be possible but it was cancel and lose deposit crunch time too early. We re-scheduled for next year. We were planning a special trip next year for our 40th anniversary but who knows what will be possible. If we stick with this booking for next year we won't have sacrificed the deposit, if we decide to do something else we are no worse off than if we cancelled.

@Tollergirl I have lots of family in Cornwall and have spent lots of time there over the years and in normal times still go regularly,and your right the vast majority aren't like it but there are definitely some and some of the smaller villages can be worst

Devon and Cornwall residents (& often the newest arrivals) have always been vocal about loathing grockles / emmetts in a way that the residents of eg Windsor and Bath are not. It’s as if they believe they are able to support themselves without the rest of the countey

20% tourism and hospitality here. Thst leaves 80% of non tourism related business. Plus hospitality applies to locals.

Even if that 20% exists in a bubble and somehow has no knock-on effects on the rest of the local economy, 20%, or even 10%, is a huge amount to lose. Would you shrug and say it doesn't matter if you lost 10-20% of your salary? Most people struggle enough if their wages don't keep up with inflation.

If people would like to support hospitality businesses (in Cornwall and elsewhere) during the pandemic, there are many ways you still can.

For example, Canteen Cornwall (which is an awesome street food place loved by locals and visitors alike) have completely turned around their business model to work on a crowdfunded basis to provide healthy meals to NHS staff at Treliske. At the moment, it's almost 100% locals donating. They have done this because it's a socially responsible thing to do as a business right now, but also because their usual local trade isn't able to come to them right now.

Here's the link if anyone is feeling generous www.crowdfunder.co.uk/canteen-nhs

Other hospitality businesses, like our local vegan cafe, are doing a roaring trade with local take aways, and getting in things people are struggling to find, like flour and live yeast.

Funnily enough, the overpriced bistro in the village that is owned by a couple from London and aimed firmly at the tourist market, and has actually made itself very unpopular with the resident population for a number of reasons, is struggling. No-one wants their take aways. They've shut the doors entirely until the holidaymakers come back.

There are many nuances in the hospitality trade in Cornwall. Some is entirely dependent on tourists, most though aren't.

Everywhere will suffer losses. There is lockdown for a reason.

....and it wouldn't even be like everybody potentially losing 20% of their income and being forced to adjust - it would be one fifth of people being completely destroyed financially. That kind of impact frequently comes with devastating consequences and, sadly, increased crime and other signs of deprivation that blight whole communities aren't far behind.

Exactly @Polar0pposite. Restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars are pretty much out of business all over the country, bar those who can offer a limited take away service to people in their immediate vicinity.

This isn't unique to Cornwall. And it isn't really about tourists.

The tourism debate in Cornwall is an entirely separate beast that is behest with emotions - fear of the virus that hasn't hit here dramatically, and an underlying dismay at what over-tourism has done to the place.

So ignore CV and just go back to normal everywhere then?

We've had tourists here for the last couple of weeks 🙄 I live in Northumberland and we always get very busy with tourists all the time from Easter to September. DH had to drive to his office last week as a one-off and counted 15 caravans on the road. We don't have a hospital anywhere near and the ones we do have wouldn't cope with anyone extra.

Devon and Cornwall residents (& often the newest arrivals) have always been vocal about loathing grockles / emmetts
100% true in my experience and why I don't bother going any more. They can keep it.

That was to Webuilt

Restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars are pretty much out of business all over the country, bar those who can offer a limited take away service to people in their immediate vicinity.

This isn't unique to Cornwall. And it isn't really about tourists.

True, but the thread had expanded to the reliance on tourism and attitudes to tourists in general - not just during the pandemic.

Noone has answered my question...

Do you believe that people from cities coming to the South West will spread the virus?

So we are hostile for not wanting the virus to be spread here and yet Javintha Arden in NZ is amazing for shutting down her country to stop the spread.

I don't think you'll get an answer @ITonyah because the question is an entirely reasonable one that doesn't serve the heated rhetoric that we all hate tourists and Cornwall will be doomed because we're barricading holidaymakers from gracing our pubs and restaurants with their pounds with pitchforks in hand.

Definitely going to re think our holiday next year and stay out of cornwall ! Leave them to it.

OrangeSamphire 🤣

@ITonyah I think people are going in the fact that if and when we are allowed to travel it will be because it is considered as safe as can be same as with schools opening , returning to work
Boris did not rule out in future different places having different lockdown and I honestly can't see them just saying right oh you can all go on holiday today , I suspect it will be gradual release like I said earlier maybe holiday parks operating at very low capacity , who knows
To the person who said about the London bistro that's all well and good bit when they are t paying tax , rent , business rate who do you think will suffer ?

Just wanted to whisper that we’re (Cornish) not all grumpy.

People are scared which is understandable but people are also being very rude which isn’t okay.

Business rates are suspended and they own the building so 🤷‍♀️

Also some on her have come across as not wanting tourists ever not just now and also not looking at the long term picture

I think we might be talking at cross purposes, Polar - I'm saying that we need to keep a sense of perspective but also remain cautious, accept restrictions and follow the guidelines during CV, but I'm largely talking about the attitudes that some seem to have towards 'outsiders' full-time.