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?

But I can also manage not to be hostile to people asking questions about it when there is so much uncertainty

What questions are people asking?

The pretty obvious question is 'will Devon and Cornwall be okay to go to in July?'

Of course it isn't okay to go today, but it theoretically could be okay to go in July if the government says that holidays are allowed within the UK and schools, restaurants and cinemas are all open.

If we're in fact still in the middle of the pandemic, none of those things will be happening.

@understandmenow - I appreciate that but the point I was trying to make is that this is about holiday makers so not essential travel - so if 3 million holidaymakers has all pitched up in London from places with high levels of Coronavirus within the same couple of days there might have been some dissent. The 3 million was used to illustrate how much the population of Cornwall increases in relation to it's resident population over the summer as I mentioned, going from around 500,000 to 800,000 in the space of a few days.

I don't think it's outrageous to say that many do think our government should have been restricting entry to the UK. As other pps have stated it seems odd that so many are holding up NZ as the country that got it right by closing borders yet that doesn't apply in other situations. Of course Cornwall is not a separate country but you have to appreciate that many here do feel cut off by their geography if nothing else. Rightly or wrongly Cornwall does feel quite remote from many parts of the country and although I am a remainer I think one of the reasons that some in Cornwall may have voted for Brexit could be traced back to feeling left behind by those in power.

London has the infrastructure. Devon and Cornwall doesn’t.

And many will go from airports to their destination bypassing London and it’s healthcare infrastructure.

ITonyah I get that you are very frightened and threads like this clearly are making you angry. But the hostility is unnecessary. I have every reason to be as worried as you because my mother is in direct contact with patients in the area, but I can understand people having questions about holidays that have not yet been cancelled by the accommodation owners in the SW due to uncertainty about the restrictions that far ahead.

If they’re coming into London airports, train stations, bus stations, they can’t ‘bypass’ London.

I wouldn't go, as nowhere will be open and they don't want you there, so not a very good atmosphere.

Economic disaster kills more people than Covid

I keep hearing/reading comments like this but, having lived through many recessions in my 64 years, I don't recall hearing about tens of thousands dying because of them.

Iirc, the global crash in 2008 was believed to be responsible for 10k suicides across the whole of Europe and North America. We have already seen in excess of 30k deaths from Covid in the UK alone, and there will doubtless be many more to come. At college, my economics tutor told us that the suicide rate during the Great Depression in the late 20s increased by 25%. The UK had just over 6k suicides in 2018, which was considered to be high. A 25% increase would bring that to 7.5k, still less than 25% of the figure for Covid deaths in the UK so far, (if that death figure is the full picture, which many doubt).

If there's any research that supports the contention that an economic collapse will lead to more deaths than Covid, I'd really welcome a link to it.

We got a full refund for our Cornwall holiday. Not advertised as an option, but asked and told yes with no issue.

@Tollergirl if the government say people can travel, then they will! That's what I'm saying. Just as the government didn't lock down London soon enough.

Should anyone travel before the 1st July, no they shouldn't because the guidelines are saying not too. If BJ comes to the podium mid June and says it's fine to travel then that's it, people will follow the guidelines.

You can say it's non essential travel, but maybe the stressed people who can't get their deposits back think that it is essential that they get their holiday, after having to work from home whilst looking after three young children etc. Maybe they feel their mental health will really suffer if they don't get a break.

What's getting me is the people of Cornwall saying anyone with two brain cells wouldn't come, they're thick if they come, they're selfish if they come blah blah. Moaning about drunk and stupid holidaymakers etc.

Also you state an increase of 300,000 in a few weeks, so nearly double the population and yet others are stating like @ITonyah, we don't need tourism, everyone will be fine. Surely someone, not less than 20% of the Cornish population need tourism with those figures.

They WILL come if the restrictions are lifted in July.

@Polar0pposite they'll bypass London, so they won't get on trains with Londoners? Not on buses with Londoners.

How would you propose they land in London and bypass all Londoners?

🙄

Forget holidays fir one summer ffs

I don’t go through the centre of London when I travel via Heathrow or Gatwick. We stay in hotels next to the airports.Dont use public transport. Why would we take a detour through the centre of London?

@Polar0pposite ok I won't go to Truro, is that ok?

I'll self cater also!

Personally I wouldn’t give up the deposit like everyone is suggesting, we asked and were told fine to delay payment of ours (June holiday), otherwise we would have paid it. Company have now cancelled all of June, so offered to move holiday (not possible this year due to babies due in October), and we got a full refund instead when asked.
Never know, end of July might be ok... but will be touch and go I think!

@understandmenow. yep, if Boris announces we can travel, then I’m travelling!

Out of interest @Polar0pposite how do you get from the terminal to your hotel? You don't use the monorail in Gatwick, don't use the lifts, don't check in, don't use the airport buses that drop you at hotels, don't go to any shops in the airport, don't go to the bar in the hotels, or check in desk.

They have buses and trains and all sorts of things outside of the centre of London you know.

London, like Cornwall is a big place.

@Coffeepot72 exactly!

I'm not sure how people think they're going to stop others! Government says travel, well we will put some signs up and tell them to turn around after they've travelled six hours and just go home..... I don't think so.

Why can't people just stay at home? Why risk a lethal second spike (which looks inevitable through the summer months now) just so people can visit a town where they aren't welcome? You wouldn't get on a plane so.why travel hundreds of miles?

Stay home.

Would you also never visit France, Italy or Spain because they currently have closed their borders.

France, Italy and Spain are meanwhile busying themselves for a summer season that may not happen. You don’t see this anger, resentment, insularity - which is classic Basil Fawlty.

Italy and Spain in particular are massively reliant on tourism and welcoming of tourists. It may be some time before they can get back to normal. But Tuscans are nonetheless kitting out their holiday lets, hotels and B&Bs with PPE and disinfectant and hoping the borders will open soon.

look I live in a tourist zone Wales, our health minister has just said 66 in intensive care 600 in hospitals, figures dropping every day. 23 tested positive yesterday in our health board, population 66k.

The tourists will be returning, best bet as a local is to crack on with washing the shopping, social distancing, wear gloves, masks, whatever gives you peace of mind, avoid busy beaches, lakes, mountains, we know where the quieter places are, what time to go. We tend to hide from them every year anyway.

COVID is not going away, it will ebb and flow like the tide worldwide. Our hospitals will go through quiet and busy periods.

@Jeffersona I would get on a plane if the government of both countries allowed it!

I'd take the precautions I felt necessary and go.

What makes you think that people wouldn't?

People won stay home because they think that they have struggled enough and ‘deserve’ a holiday.

Without giving a second thought for the families who will lose loved ones when a second peak hits because of all the travelling.

No one will die from missing a holiday this year. But of course their kids wanting a break or a great trumps anyone else.

Or a treat*