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

It's a shame you made such a sarcastic and ill natured reply to what was a constructive suggestion.

Are you one of those rude tourists that residents are fed up of?

Well Wales and Cornwall are in talks to introduce a tourist tax between them. Not sure how that would work unless you licence all tourist accommodation.

I feel for people in tourist hot spots who are getting priced out of their own area by wealthy (mainly Londoners) buying up property for holiday lets and second homes. It’s understandable that they can be a bit miffed about it.

it must be a nightmare in peak season to be going about your normal life with all the holiday traffic and pressure on services, and then for it to be dead in the winter. Pretty much while villages standing empty.

i can see where the hostility comes from. but cornwall isn’t bursting with jobs and without the tourist trade people would suffer. It’s a bit of a no win situation. I’d like to see second homes and holiday lets capped so villages aren’t left desolate in winter and caps on house prices (like you can’t offer more than 5% over the asking price) so the wealthy can’t just out bid normal folk. Holiday makers can stay on holiday parks. Nothing wrong with that, they can support the tourist industry without pricing local people out of the area they were born in.

People in London and all over the UK say their children have been priced out. Where I live it's retirees who leave family homes in Manchester and the Wirral and downsizing to N Wales. It's not second homes but retirement homes

It's an absolutely sound suggestion. We should stop going (I don't go. I find the whining resentment of people who are keen to take every penny they can from tourists absolutely disgusting) and leave the Cornish to it. Rude tourists? Rude, grabby locals are the problem!

'English tourists'! The Cornish are English, unless I've missed something and you actually need a passport to a part of your own country now!

@Goldenbear

'English tourists'! The Cornish are English, unless I've missed something and you actually need a passport to a part of your own country now!

++++

Yep you have definitely missed something:

On 24 April 2014, the UK Government recognised the Cornish as a national minority. This was under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCPNM).
The decision to recognise the unique identity of the Cornish now affords them the same status as;
• the Scots
• the Welsh
• and the Irish

So definitely not English although you'll be pleased to know that like Wales and Scotland you won't need your passport to visit.

As a Cornish(wo)man I have no issues with the tourists as a whole and I’ve not met any Cornish people who dislike tourists as a whole.

If you are rude, entitled, badly behaved or own a second home, then we don’t want you (OP I’m guessing this is you and a few others on this thread).

Its the same anywhere you go that is a tourist hotspot.

Look at the Caribbean.
Its somewhere I’ll probably never be able to afford to go because it’s so expensive and luxurious but most of the actual residents of the Caribbean are poor and most of them do not directly benefit from the tourists.
Its the same with places like Thailand too and Cornwall.

I love London but I’ve been unfortunate to have had some bad experiences and met some dickheads there.
I’d never create a thread badmouthing the entire area though and telling people not to go there because I know it’s not the majority who are like that.

Rude grabby locals are the problem

What a ridiculous assertion

THE problem is the people who live there is it? Firstly, the problemS are many and complex. Secondly, attributing them all to the people who are just trying to live there year round does indeed make you look like one of that type of ignorant tourist who regards anywhere they choose to spend time as being blessed to be on the receiving end of it, no matter how obnoxious your behaviour

@WestwardHo1

Nonsense.
does indeed make you look like one of that type of ignorant tourist
a) I don't care what you think so whatever you want from me, forget it
b) I'm not a tourist of any kind.

I used to hold very similar views to the main thread of this page, and couldn’t understand why Cornish people complained considering tourists paid their wages etc, but they’ve recently changed. I’m born and bred in the West Midlands and only moved to Cornwall just 3 years ago, and in those 3 years, my opinion has completely changed.

There are some absolutely lovely people that come here on holiday, and they treat it with the same respect they’d treat their own home towns with. Unfortunately, like everywhere, there are the people that don’t, and they come across as extremely entitled, and because they’ve paid for this holiday, they deserve above and beyond what is possible, or they don’t need to clear up after themselves, some poor worker will do it. Then there’s the rudeness. You get this all over the country, but, having lived here for 3 years, I am definitely on the receiving end of more rudeness/hostility in the summer months compared to the rest of the year. Just a few days ago when the summer holidays began, I was screamed at and threatened to be rammed with her car by a lady who had cut me up and tried to queue jump at Tamar Bridge (tolls) to realise she’d got into the very well signposted tag only lane (issued mainly to locals to reduce cost of toll and is automated barrier, so if no tag is detected, barrier won’t lift and you have to wait for a person to come and lift it). When I wouldn’t reverse for her (as I had a car behind me), her anger was directed at me as she was stuck at the barrier waiting for assistance. This is just one example of many that frequently happens on a daily basis.

So along comes the argument, Cornwall relies on tourism. It actually doesn’t. Some areas, potentially yes, but not the whole of Cornwall. Does it help the economy? Massively, but agriculture is the biggest industry in Cornwall. Also, my favourite argument is when people say, but you get Cornwall for the other 51 weeks a year but I only get it for 1. But, like everyone else, we’d like to enjoy the sun and warm weather etc, and it can become extremely frustrating when you can’t.

The second homes argument? Controversially, I agree with most people on that. Cornwall turns into a ghost county in parts in winter and it’s extremely sad to see, however, people also accept bids in properties from ‘Londoner’s’ for example that are well over the guide price and immediately price out any locals because they want the extra cash, so in my mind the only way to fix that is to potentially add more Section 106’s to house sales, but then those properties end up sitting on the market for months, so it’s a catch 22.

On the whole, Cornish people are extremely nice. Do you get the idiots that hate tourists? Of course you do, but if you treat Cornwall with exactly the same respect you’d treat your own hometowns with, you’ll never have an issue from anyone (or at least that’s my experience).

If you are rude, entitled, badly behaved or own a second home, then we don’t want you (OP I’m guessing this is you and a few others on this thread).

Its the same anywhere you go that is a tourist hotspot.

Is it though? London is the biggest tourist spot of the entire country and I’ve never never heard a Londoner say any of the above.

Indeed you’re the one who sounds rude and entitled.

Imagine Londoners suggesting a tourist tax for out of towners. Or complaining about the number of people who have second, third and fourth homes here. And there are plenty of Londoners who behave badly so we can’t really complain about tourists doing so.

@therealtalk

Thank you for your honest and open account of your personal experiences as well as clearing up the myths on how dependent Cornwall is in tourism.

One potential solution to the problem of second homes and holiday lets is to require planning permission to change its use to a holiday let or a second home. This would be no different than what is currently required if I wished to change its use into a hotel, restaurant or even a shop. Local councils could then decide if there already was or was not enough second homes or holiday lets in that particular area.

And lastly as you correctly point out the Cornish welcome people moving there to live, work and contribute to the society (it makes up for so many young people leaving!). It's the second homes and holiday lets that stay empty for the rest of the year that is the problem.

A tourist tax is fine. As a tourist I wouldn’t mind paying a contribution, as already happens in some other places.

@Mirabai
Is it though? London is the biggest tourist spot of the entire country...
How are you measuring "biggest" though? Presumably you are using the gross numbers. The impact upon the community can be better estimated by looking at the number of tourists as a proportion of the permanent resident population.

Imagine Londoners suggesting a tourist tax for out of towners.
Go ahead, many European cities have a tourist tax. You pay a few Euros per night and get a travel pass on local public transport in return. No reason that London (or Cornwall) shouldn't be able to implement that. I'm all in favour.

Or complaining about the number of people who have second, third and fourth homes here.
It's a big issue, you're quite welcome to start a thread on the subject and you'll have few people disagreeing that empty properties in London are a problem.

And there are plenty of Londoners who behave badly so we can’t really complain about tourists doing so.
Having to put up with other people is an occupational hazard of living in a city, I'm afraid.

Same thing in Devon but they don't mind going Spain or London

I think the answer is that we all stop going to Cornwall. Go somewhere else. Watch their economy collapse and see how quickly they start squealing for government (taxpayer) support and for the tourists to come back. Why pay to go where you aren't wanted? The government should make any support dependent on them actively welcoming tourists.

This was your response to the suggestion of a "tourist" tax? Loads of places already do this and some places in the UK are trialing it to. This is nothing to do with feelings towards tourists just acknowledging that they make a large impact on the services that the locals pay council tax for.

There have been several threads on this topic now just this year and yet and they always seem to go around in circles. You will never stop the Cornish from having a moan as some of them dislike the next village let alone those from hundreds of miles away. Many will grumble about overcrowded towns/roads in the summer but it's more an airing of frustration and I don't think I have actually heard anyone in real life suggest tourists disappear. There was 2020 but the whole world went a bit crazy that year, look at some of the threads on here 😂. Yes there are some things I do actively hate during the summer mainly throwing rubbish from car windows and the incorrect disposal of bbqs on beaches which cause serious injuries to people and dogs every year. I'm not pointing the finger at anyone as we don't call this silly season for nothing some people generally lose their common sense in the summer including locals but these issues arise every summer and if it is caused by those from out of county then no amount of money those individuals spend can justify this.

30 million visitors pa to London, 5 million to Cornwall in a larger square footage.

European tourist taxes are for foreigners the majority of visitors to Cornwall are British.

I could start a thread on 2nd/3rd/4th homes, but Londoners don’t really complain in the same way. It is what it is.

Having to put up with other people is an occupational hazard of living anywhere I’m afraid.

30 million visitors pa to London, 5 million to Cornwall in a larger square footage.
So tourists represent less than 1% of the people in London on a given day (should be pretty well spread through the year too, with more on weekends when the commuters aren't about). In Cornwall however they represent 2.4% on average, but because of the seasonal nature this is far higher during silly season than in winter. London also has the infrastructure to cope with this, it handles commuters during the week and sightseers at weekends. Cornwall does not.

European tourist taxes are for foreigners the majority of visitors to Cornwall are British.
What do you mean that they're for foreigners? You pay them when you check in to a hotel or campsite, whatever your nationality.

I could start a thread on 2nd/3rd/4th homes, but Londoners don’t really complain in the same way. It is what it is.
Maybe they should complain, then something might get done about those Russian oligarchs and Saudi princes.

Having to put up with other people is an occupational hazard of living anywhere I’m afraid.
More so the more densely populated the area is. It's also easier to get used to.

That London is already stuffed to the gills is not a strong argument. It’s not people per other people that counts (although of course a much smaller resident population is a major plus) but people per square foot - Cornwall a far smaller number of visitors over a far larger square footage.

One can only laugh at the idea that London has the transport infrastructure to cope - of course it doesn’t - sometimes the tube is so packed at rush hour you can’t even get on.

French residents don’t pay to visit Paris or Nice, the tourist taxi is for non-residents.

And what do you propose to do about Russians and Saudis buying property eh?

The more densely populated an area already the less space there is for even more people.

@Mirabai

"French residents don’t pay to visit Paris or Nice, the tourist taxi is for non-residents."

++++
Actually they do unless you are a resident of that particular municipality:

www.frenchbusinessadvice.com/tourist-tax/

Rational for a tourist tax.

St Ives has to maintain facilities for 540,000 day trippers and 220,000 staying visitors every year.

However the population is only 11,500 people so they are the only people the Council can get money from.

However during the summer St Ives has to provide facilities for hundreds of thousands of visitors at a time when the Council budget is being reduced.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-65675411.amp

That London is already stuffed to the gills is not a strong argument. It’s not people per other people that counts (although of course a much smaller resident population is a major plus) but people per square foot - Cornwall a far smaller number of visitors over a far larger square footage.
Oh, honestly! People in London will be distributed across the city. Do you really think that the crowds in Cornwall are evenly spread across the farmland and china clay quarries? No, they are concentrated along the coast. 10% of the visitors descend upon just one small town.

One can only laugh at the idea that London has the transport infrastructure to cope - of course it doesn’t - sometimes the tube is so packed at rush hour you can’t even get on.

@Mirabai so you get on the next one three minutes later. Diddums. Tourists aren't generally the cause of the overcrowding in London anyway (concerts etc. aside), they generally travel Off Peak. You really don't know how good you've got it.

Trains where I am (not Cornwall, but still a popular holiday destination) routinely leave dozens of passengers behind on the platform on the changeover days for the caravan sites. Next train is half an hour behind and it's not going where you want to go anyway. Passengers frequently get stuck for hours, as trains already wedged full of holidaymakers pass them. The savvy ones buy a ticket for a train going the other way so that they will be first on the return working when it turns around. Staff get sworn at because of the overcrowding - and it's not just 20 minutes across Zone 1, it's wedged all the way to Manchester - around an hour and a half. The operator is forced to hire road coaches to sit outside the stations to cope with the numbers, except that when the wedged train turns up the coaches have already been filled and sent, barely making a dent in the figures.

The train service between St Erth and St Ives stretches the infrastructure to its absolute limit in the summer, GWR staff it with two drivers and two guards because the service is so intensive that they don't have the time to walk to the other end of the train at each terminus. They're now talking about building a second platform at St Ives so that doors can be released on both sides to get people on/off quicker. The London-centric Department for Transport tried to order GWR to cut the St Ives train to two coaches year-round rather than the four used in the summer, on the basis that retaining extra vehicles for seasonal work was an extra cost. They had no clue of just why four coaches was required (and even those barely cope).

London could suggest a tourist tax if it wanted. They could add a huge amount to revenue if they did - I'd be all for it. Not sure why people act why it's so offensive. They do it in parts of France.

There are tourist taxes all over Europe, but they’re for non-residents. The majority of visitors to Cornwall are British.