Sick of some Cornish people bleating on as though they are the worlds only tourist destination

[Endlesssummer2022]

Just read the article below and found a few gems such as these:

’ have you ever wondered where the local people live? Or have you noticed that many of your holiday neighbours are recognisable in the narrow lanes of the pretty fishing villages because they are the same people you live near in London?’

and…

‘Despite what you may have read, we Cornish do welcome visitors and are happy to share our love of our land with you. But it might help if you do a bit of research – Cornwall is fiercely independent and has a proud and unique history and heritage…* *And try not to be rude to local people. If you’ve been asked to not drink from a glass bottle on the beach, there is a reason for that. Don’t forget to tip waiting staff. ‘

What patronising bollocks. So Londoner’s (as those are apparently the only people who visit Cornwall) are so untraveled and boorish we need to be told not to be rude to people, pay tips, not to smash glass bottles in sand, that we’ve bought all of their houses, that it’s ‘their’ land and we’re the ones who are rude?

I’d already decided I wouldn’t go back there after how some of them carried on during Covid but this article has pissed me off. Why would anyone go there when they can go to equally lovely places in the UK/World and not be treated with contempt?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/29/welcome-to-cornwall-please-dont-ruin-it-for-us-local-people

I don't live in Cornwall but live in another very popular holiday spot. I like tourists on the whole, but since Covid we seem to have attracted some rather inconsiderate ones on top of this. They visit local beauty spots in the countryside and leave litter everywhere, which is catastrophic for wildlife and poses a risk to pets and children, as well as ruining views. Sometimes they even take down farmer's fences and make camp fires out of them. They use mountain rescue services like a taxi service instead of an emergency service. Wild campers leave piles of shite in not so well hidden places. They stay out drinking and making a racket until the early morning and leaving rub is and broken bottled all over the pavements in towns and villages.

Like I say, I like tourists on the whole but not the inconsiderate ones, which seem to be increasing in number. And it is this type of tourist who does need to be told how to behave unfortunately.

The kind of people who shit in bags and drink to the point of vomiting on holiday aren’t the kind who will read The Guardian, suddenly have a lightbulb moment and change their disgusting behaviour.

I have no idea what the author expected to achieve writing an article which will be read by the type of tourist who are highly unlikely to go on pub crawls, sing ‘2 world wars, 1 World Cup’ and get into street fights. So what was the point of this patronising article?

I'm sure the many people who live in Cornwall who have stuck a shepherds hut or a yurt in their field or converted their garages into holiday lets are quite happy that the urban oiks are paying their bills.

That article seems eminently reasonable to me. She has some good practical suggestions to help people not be one of those tourists.

Although, I guess if you're one of those tourists, you're not going to want to hear them.

Some suggestions/ clarifications I'd add:

AirBnB is fine if what you are renting is someone's spare room/ they've moved out of their house for a couple of weeks to make a lump sum/ it's a shed at the bottom of someone's garden. Not fine if it's an entire family sized home that's been taken out of the long term rental market.

Walk the last mile. Seriously, if you're able bodied, get an OS map or look at Google maps and park a mile away from that honeypot beach/ crowded town centre. You'll save yourselves and everyone else no end of stress.

Don't whiz around blind bends on a single track lane at 30mph. You're not the only road user, and you're going to end up with a nasty surprise sooner or later (this happened to me about 5 times today. Tourist season has commenced with a bang).

Do not empty your still- smoking disposable barbecue into a rock pool 😡

And lastly, no we're not grateful for your money. What do you want, grovelling and tugging forelocks? Tourism accounts for about 17% of Cornish GDP. It provides mostly badly paid seasonal jobs, puts a massive strain on the local infrastructure and contributes massively to the housing crisis down here. I'm really not convinced it provides any net benefit to us at all.

So, I don't think the offended huffing and puffing about never coming back really has the effect you think it does. Toodle pip then 😆

I wonder how many of these Cornwall moaners would happily go to London if they had appointments they needed to attend there, clogging up the roads and parking even more in London. Maybe go for a weekend of museums, the theatre or concerts. And I hope none of them have family who have moved to London for work...contributing to the high property prices there (worst in the country !) and taking jobs away from the local who have family and friends in London and can no longer afford to live there ... in fact make that anywhere in the South East!

A fair few cornish people own multiple properties that they rent to tourists, its not just 'incomers', If you are lucky enough to live in a beautiful place, visitors are just part of life - get used to it, the cornish do not own cornwall

oh come on - ‘urbanites don’t know how to behave in the countryside’.

I live in London and am often delayed by people who don’t know how to drive on city roads properly or use Uber or know how to use the public transport system. I don’t assume all country folk are the same and they’re somehow lesser than me; I assume they just aren’t as familiar with it as I am and show patience.

My family comes from the southwest (still many of them living there) and I understand so many of the frustrations about tourists but sweeping generalisations about ‘urbanites’ are ridiculous. Not least because many urbanites are people who come from rural areas!

@crackofdoom - maybe you could start an anti tourist campaign? A sort of You're Not Welcome in Cornwall? You'll get a lot of support on here.

Some of Cornwall is the most deprived in the country. So I'm not convinced you would all be living the high life without tourists.

I don’t condone bad behaviour by tourists in any part of the world. However, I have found the southwest to generally be beautiful but very unfriendly and keen to make as much money as they can out of tourists. I prefer going north instead now.

I'd quite like to be able to park or go out for dinner from June to August in my own village/town tbh. And to be able to go half an hour without the lifeboat getting a shout because some dickhead thinks they can row out to see in a £6 inflatable dinghy with a 3 year old on an outgoing tide.

People, by and large, are awful.

Do people from Cornwall never go on holiday elsewhere?

Absolutely revolting.
I know there was an issue with public toilets during Covid times, and most, if not all, were shut. This was bound to lead to problems.
There are still totally inadequate toilet facilities in most towns/tourist spots. I notice in central London too, there are very few facilities. That's not going to help, although obviously I'm not condoning pooing in inappropriate places.

I have been about 5 times, always thought “there must be a nicer part I’ve not yet seen…” but, tbh, there never was…it’s quite a drab part of the country and I’d not go back.

Croissantsandpistachio
Cornwall Council are limited in what they can and can't do by the government in Westminster. Plus, they're Tory controlled so aren't going to be looking at proactive ways to tax property owners.

get over yourself all tourist destinations locals will have a moan when their everyday life is interrupted

tourist in London annoy me when they get in the way on the tube

some areas have completely changed due to second home buying. It’s a contentious issue, it makes it harder for locals to buy, economy then becomes seasonal and second home ownership is bad for the environment why should locals be grateful for that 🙄

im sure when I’m a tourist abroad though I’m respectful I’m annoying to locals too

Do you never go on holiday? Perhaps you annoy the locals there.

Devon doesn't want them, either, believe me.

OP, if you are a considerate tourist then that article is not aimed at you so I don't know what you are getting so offended about. It is aimed at the people who go to the town/village that others call home and essentially trash the place. Yes maybe the tourists it is aimed at won't read it but maybe the author jas just had it up to here with shitty behaviour?

They are unwelcoming to Londoners but the reason we won’t go back is the racism. Are they so cut off from the rest of society that they do not know it’s rude to stare at people ? I’ve never seen anything like it. They don’t even try to hide the fact that they are confused /uncomfortable by black people. So very strange.

I take a 2 week holiday during August to avoid the worst of it.

I do holiday a lot.

I'm not from Cornwall but I'm from a very popular tourist area and I can assure you the only people who like tourists are the business owners. The rest of the locals hate them. They walk up the middle of the roads, clog up the footpaths, make a mess and are just a general nuisance to people who are actually trying to live their lives in an area. Seemingly normal, every day people loose the run of themselves on holiday and act like utter prats. I can throughly sympathise with the people of Cornwall .

Really? I get it. She is not pissed off because some people are bad tourists, she is pissed off because this sort of article is always about Cornwall, like Cornwall is somehow more precious.

Are none of the Cornish people going to answer me about their holidays elsewhere? Or do they never leave Cornwall?

I hardly ever contribute to threads but I'm currently on holiday in Cornwall and had a Sainsbury's member of staff and a coffee shop owner be rude to me. I was quite taken aback!