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Original poster

Tourists exodus today relieved

840 replies

justasking111 · 30/08/2021 09:16

Well it's over today the tsunami of tourists will be gone.

We have never experienced such, rudeness, aggressive behaviour from them as we have this summer. Our businesses have limped along short staffed, been abused, threatened as have locals. The littering has been something else.

I know everyone has had a bad year but so have the Welsh our lockdowns harder and longer than others.

We still wear masks in shops fgs

So hopefully you all had good holidays but glad of a bit of peace now

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
OlympicProcrastinator · 30/08/2021 11:57

The cottage people

GrinGrin Gold.

Themusicis0utside · 30/08/2021 11:57

Anyone not living in a tourist area won't understand. And moving isn't the solution as the locusts can descend anywhere, thanks to the likes of insta, etc.

Blossomtoes · 30/08/2021 11:58

No, @Heliachi, it’s not life. It’s the destruction of communities. It’s why tourist areas are starting to fight back against second homes and stopping the rot.

OhWhyNot · 30/08/2021 11:58

There are other areas than Cornwall

And there is more to investment than a vibrant high street …. That’s been the issue for many years

category12 · 30/08/2021 11:59

I think it is rather more sanctimonious to live in a beautiful area and believe that no one else can visit it.

No-one is saying that - they're just asking that people be respectful, considerate and, I don't know, nice when they do.

placemats · 30/08/2021 11:59

I visited London a few weeks ago and it was absolutely heaving - engineering works closing down stations at popular tourist spots didn't help either. However, I so enjoyed my week there - free accommodation staying with my daughter and those working were very helpful in the main. The train journeys there and back was so relaxing.

ThreeLittleDots · 30/08/2021 12:00

YANBU to be relieved. I am too.

Soon I'll be able to get into the local pool in the daytime without screaming kids running into me, I'll be able to drive down the motorway without having to leave an extra 45 mins for tourist traffic, and hopefully our single hospital can breathe a bit after treating so many more patients than they have capacity for - many of them very chronically ill patients who deliberately chose to come here on holiday.

The vast, vast majority of Cornwall's economy does not come from tourism, so excuse us for not always feeling grateful.

Nomorepies · 30/08/2021 12:01

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on the poster's request

cruisecrazy · 30/08/2021 12:01

I am afraid there has been a lot of upsets on all sides this summer. A local near me with a holiday cottage that sleeps 6 was amazed when 30 people! arrived to stay. They were given 1 hour to vacate the property. They thought that 30 people could have slept in sleeping bags! They complained loudly saying it was there holiday, unbelievable.

Foxmylife · 30/08/2021 12:02

Sounds awful. I wont be holidaying in the uk if I can help it again, massively overpriced, no guarantee of good weather and car journeys🤢

BlueMongoose · 30/08/2021 12:02

I have a friend who works in catering, serving. Same place for years. She had never known a time like it.
Normally she loves the job, and she's very good with and popular with people. Previous jobs mean she is excellent at diffusing difficult situations, too. She is cheerful and helpful by nature.
Since covid she has had to endure such rudeness and aggression that she ended up having to give up the job (which she couldn't afford to do).
They eventually got her to go back, but she would only go back if she could work in the back, without customer contact.
I dont; know whether it is that the dregs of the population who are so unpleasant normally go abroad (giveing the Uk a name for rude behavior) or whether finding places fully booked etc. drove people into behaving much worse than normal. Either way, it's time people stopped throwing their toys out of their prams when they don't get exactly what they want when they want it. If a place is fully booked, that is not the staff's fault, if it's anyone's, it's yours for not booking when we all know there is a shortage of places to eat in restaurants due to covid and brexit, and there is no justification for ranting at a the staff ( this seems to have been one of the biggest problems).

MissJeanBrodiesprime · 30/08/2021 12:02

I guess we now know what foreign holiday destinations have had to put up with for years.

Howareyouflower · 30/08/2021 12:02

I think @justasking111 is reasonable to complain about rude tourists and littering, whilst her area still needs them to survive. And it's reasonable to be glad that most of them have gone back home. (By the way, what does it say about this generation of parents, that being rude to others and leaving litter all over the place is seen as ok, presumably in front of children? I'm presuming the mass exodus is because of school.)

pommepommefrites · 30/08/2021 12:03

@OlympicProcrastinator

The cottage people

GrinGrin Gold.

I wanna live like cottage people
Fifthtimelucky · 30/08/2021 12:03

I'm just back from a couple of weeks in north Devon and Cornwall. I'm glad to say I noticed no resentment from locals and no unreasonable behaviour from others on holiday.

Some shops, generally smaller ones, asked people to wear masks. Some pubs and other eating places had notices up about reduced menus. I didn't see or hear anyone complain.

It's not the busiest part of Devon and Cornwall. Perhaps behaviour is worse elsewhere, along with correspondingly higher resentment by locals.

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 30/08/2021 12:04

I'll be able to drive down the motorway without having to leave an extra 45 mins for tourist traffic

Since when has Cornwall had a motorway? The M5 stops at Exeter, which was well into Devon last time I looked.

And I do wish people would stop the peddling the myth that Cornwall only has one hospital. It does not. And Derriford in Plymouth serves the east of Cornwall anyway and I doubt very much that "chronically ill" people deliberately went to Cornwall with their illnesses. In any event, I see a lot more obese people in Devon or Dorset than I do where I live, so I suspect the "chronically ill" people are homegrown.

As for the pool you'll just have local screaming school-kids instead. There is never a good time to go to a swimming pool.

Gazelda · 30/08/2021 12:05

I'm sorry you've had such a difficult summer OP. No one deserves to be abused or treated disrespectfully.

I went to the Isle of Wight this year. Apart from the accommodation (which was poorly equipped and filthy), I had an amazing time. Greeted with friendliness and good humour wherever we went. Clear booking systems in most places. Masks whenever we went, but tolerance to those who weren't wearing them. Inflated prices, but I'm fortunately in a position to afford them and accept the justification.

But I feel sad that the people I encountered are possibly relieved I've gone, were smiling through gritted teeth and would rather I didn't come back.

Moonface123 · 30/08/2021 12:05

Sour faced locals are not doing themselves any favours.
I personally wouldn't waste my money on some overpriced and very over rated tourist attraction, plus l have teenagers, they would be bored stiff in Wales or Cornwall.
I suggest no one "bother" them next year and leave them to it.

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 30/08/2021 12:05

@cruisecrazy

I am afraid there has been a lot of upsets on all sides this summer. A local near me with a holiday cottage that sleeps 6 was amazed when 30 people! arrived to stay. They were given 1 hour to vacate the property. They thought that 30 people could have slept in sleeping bags! They complained loudly saying it was there holiday, unbelievable.
Maybe they were charging enough for 30 people Grin. The prices this year were ridiculous.

Even the Premier Inns were getting in on the act. Last time I stayed in a particular hotel it cost £72 a night. This year, £162!

Howareyouflower · 30/08/2021 12:06

@MissJeanBrodiesprime

I guess we now know what foreign holiday destinations have had to put up with for years.
Yes, I agree, and it's embarrassing.
HesterShaw1 · 30/08/2021 12:06

After all the threads on here this year about how the West Country don't want tourists, we have decided we will never return there again for holidays. We used to go every year as my in-laws lived there but I'm not spending money to go somewhere I'm not welcome 😒 we will probably add Wales to that list now too

Wait....you've decided on the back of some heated threads on Mumsnet to never holiday in the "West Country" (it's quite a large place you know) and Wales ever again? Rather than going out and deciding for yourselves?

I find this really very odd indeed.

Here's some news: Mumsnet often does not reflect reality. You only have to look at an average day on AIBU or the Coronavirus section to realise that.

vixeyann · 30/08/2021 12:10

In the SW - can't wait for everyone to leave. Most locals end up staying in a lot of the holidays as you can't move for people or traffic. All we have been left with is the highest rates of covid since the whole world seems to have descended.

BlueMongoose · 30/08/2021 12:10

@FedUpAtHomeTroels

I'm in a tourist hotspot too. Town and beach rammed full of people. I usually love summer, the tourists are great. This how I made money as a teen, working in the tourist industry. Now my job has nothing to do with tourism. Sadly this years tourists are a different breed. Not our usual lovely people, but ones who are quite vile at times. and the mess they are leaving is horrible. I'd hate to see what mess they live in if this is how they treat our area. With schools back this week for most. We will use the oppotunity to enjoy the area ourselves before the weather changes. They'll still be some tourists around as always, but hopefully they are the nice usual ones.
I do wonder if what we're looking at here is people who are sore they can't go abroad to squat on a beach/ by a pool burning in a hot sun drinking British lager, dropping rubbish everywhere, and ignoring and insulting the locals, and so they are taking it out on everyone else by doing the same here, but on a smaller scale and in the rain.
bigbluebus · 30/08/2021 12:10

I visited a popular Welsh holiday resort a couple of weeks ago. It was busy - queues for all the popular attractions (which we weren't going to do anyway) but I didn't witness any of the behaviour you refer to. Everyone was standing in line waiting their turn.
We went in a restaurant and a pub (neither pre booked) and were polite - as was everyone else from what I witnessed. We also went to a museum and an historic building - everyone well behaved, giving people space and wearing masks. I can only assume that you live in a holiday resort that attracts a particular type of visitor OP.

I was glad to see the resort I visited was busy and thriving. It was my home town for 24 years. And those who comment about looking forward to being able to park and walk freely along the sea front - I can assure you nothing has changed there since I lived in a tourist resort pre 1988! We always looked forward to the relative peace at the end of the season. And that was in the days when many people still holidayed in the UK. And as a teenager working in cafes and gift shops - there were always one or two rude customers - nothing to do with the pandemic - just the usual minority rude, entitled individuals that you come across everywhere.

Gallowayan · 30/08/2021 12:11

As far as I am concerned it's not tourists who are unwelcome it's the anti social behaviour of a minority. Tolerance for this kind of behaviour is low- we are not used to it.And another thing. We are not a theme park dependent on the tourist dollar we produce a lot of the countries food. I personally like having tourists and like to see them enjoying the things I am lucky enough to enjoy full time. Have not seen much of the kind of problems described.