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

Having lived in Cornwall for a short while, and a number of other tourist destinations at other times I totally agree OP.

It’s an unfriendly place, tourists are judged by the behaviour of the odd few and there is a sense of superiority which comes from many of the people who live there permanently. Those who were friendly and open were certainly in the minority.

Much moreso than any of the other places I’ve lived.

There are some places in the UK where tourism levels during peak periods are now too high and impacting locals. The Scottish islands and Edinburgh also have the same problems with over crowding in tourist seasons. Some people are making money from it but for your average local, entitled tourists in holiday mode make day to day life very unpleasant.

The problems arent unique to Cornwall - try anywhere pretty in Scotland. People just genuinely dont appear to understand the concept of common decency, basic hygeine, etc. If you understand that youre supposed to clean up after your dog, why is it a leap to clean up your own shit? Literally. Privacy, courtesy, personal safety.... nah, youre on holiday so don't bother.
3 non-swimming kids and one drunk adult on an inflatable paddle board without life jackets on a large loch, what cokld wrong? Someone will help uf you get stuck.
Fancy hillwalking in flip flops, no map, no clue, no waterproof or warm layers? Just call mountain rescue if you get tired at 8pm.
Want to take photos en route? Hold your phone out the drivers side car window and snap away,.

The villages on the coast in Cornwall are pretty. The interior is quite depressing, very miserable looking villages etc. it’s really not all that. I wouldn’t waste my holiday pennies on such an overpriced place. And now we know the locals hate visitors so much, definitely not! I wonder what their other sources of income are, apart from tourism?

In the same way that all tourists aren’t the devil not all Cornish are bad. Some of us are quite nice and welcoming. Please don’t assume that we are all unfriendly and rude!

Yes it’s busier in summer but you allow extra time, yes the shops are busier but you just go elsewhere (Bodmin Asda for example does not attract tourists but I would avoid Newquay, Wadebridge, Helston etc), if the beaches are ‘too busy’ you go to the less popular ones, if you see rubbish you pick it up and don’t assume that it’s a tourist!

I love that people obviously like the place enough to come on holiday, it makes me appreciate where I live. If I didn’t live here I would holiday here.

The sort of people that need it spelling out are immune to things being spelt out.

All I can say to those complaining about tourists is, try living anywhere near York!

Cornwall is rife with successful small businesses. National companies don't do that well down here and so therefore smaller businesses thrive.

Yes but then you get this at your local beach.

This doesn't happen in the winter.

Londoners put up with it all the time - they maybe don't do enough public whinging though!

Spent a week on your island with my mum, all the locals were absolutely lovely! We were not there during the TT, but I promise we behaved and did not litter.

The guy comes across as very small minded and parochial. Does he realise that vast numbers of Londoners can no longer afford to buy houses where they grew up? He has a warped view that all visitors are absurdly rich and out to buy houses, most just want a cheap holiday and not to have it ruined by chippy locals

Just to clear up a few myths:
"Cornwall is dependent on tourism "
tourism in the UK contributes 9% of GDP whereas in Cornwall it is 12%.

On jobs yes 20% of jobs are in tourism but these are seasonal jobs. Compared to 12% working in the food processing industry and and 5% in agriculture which are year round jobs.

"It was the greedy locals who sold the houses to the second home owners " - well if you are lucky enough to own your own home in Cornwall and want to move then you need to sell it for the best price in order to afford the new home. In cases where a property is sold on probate then the executors of the will are under a legal obligation to get the best price for it.

The offensive descriptions and labelling of Cornish people in this post were they applied to any other national minority in the UK would rightly be called out as xenophobic or racist.

4 million tourists visit Cornwall each year (mostly in the summer and mostly English) which has a population of 560k so yes it does feel crowded.

I grew up in a tourist spot in Ireland too. I don't recall people shitting everywhere and leaving rubbish everywhere and acting like arseholes though. Some of the behavior mentioned on this thread is really awful. Ireland is really 'cliste' when it comes to tourists though, we know how to schmooze them and live up to that land of 1000 welcomes. Also there was a bit of attitude towards the Jackeens with the second homes rather than the foreign tourists that everyone would fawn over and I think that echos the attitude towards Londoners being mentioned on this thread.

Do they have the power to?

Cornwall is not cheap though. It's a rip off mostly.

I had a friend in London who was always moaning about tourists, I told him it was better than living somewhere rubbish that nobody wanted to visit.

And how do you know that the person urinating against the shop, or the pavement Parker is a tourist? Surely you’re not saying that all the locals are well behaved all of the time? Don’t you have any dickheads living amongst you? Any wayward teens, trouble makers?

@TheFleetFoxes it's a bit more nuanced than that. The "incomers" don't understand how they are affecting the local community and some of the locals are trying to ignore the inevitable changes to their village/life.

But MN threads don't require so nuance.

I'm in another (less prestigious) tourist area and tourist s littering does my head in, the beach 10 miles south of us could be an amazing affordable place for families to holiday but it's filthy, so much litter that it's wherever you look on the sand. You couldn't let a child play with the sand safely

*do

People can be dicks - especially on Holiday when they 'switch off'. They perhaps do things that they wouldn't at home, like litter, park arrogantly, drive recklessly and drink too much. Unfortunately, as a tourist destination, Cornwall has a higher proportion of visiting Dicks which annoy locals.

This is in a County with ridiculous property prices, congestion, expensive services, poor infrastructure and the lowest wages in UK. It can cause resentment and conflict of interests. People just need to be considerate and realise that Cornwall is not an amusement park but workplace and home to some.

Lots of tourists in London. More than Cornwall. We don't treat them all like shit. "Non-locals" buy up a considerable amount of the real estate, pricing out "locals". We don't actively despise them.

Having said that, I've only been to Cornwall twice (Fowey and Padstow) and found it to be lovely and don't recall the locals being rude. Friends of mine bought a place in Fowey and have had a slightly different experience from some residents.

Haha @ShakeYourFeathers they definitely do walk in the middle of the road in London (also standing on the left on the escalator). There are also plenty of people who come to London on a night out or stag who wee everywhere.

I'm Cornish expatriated to London- both have their issues. Most Londoners can't afford to buy houses where they grew up either. It drives me mad when I go home to Cornwall to be told 'Londoners are like this'- I know it's a convenient shorthand for 'not from here' but I find it deeply rude. Cornwall gets the local politicians it votes for- a better local authority could tackle loads of the issues by progressive taxation and investment in infrastructure.

@CanofCant don't get me started on tides! The poor lifeboat crew are rescuing people who wouldn't have had an issue if they simply checked