G7’s our chance ..don’t blow it
Cornwall hoping June’s global summit sparks year-round tourism revolution
LESS could mean more for Cornwall as the county gets set to shine on a global stage.
June’s G7 summit will showcase the hotspot to millions of potential new visitors – and could trigger a fresh boom for local businesses.
But local hospitality chiefs don’t mince words when describing their strategy for maintaining the duchy’s appeal: “Don’t bugger up Cornwall.”
While welcoming the annual tourist influx, they fear too many could be damaging. Tourism is worth nearly £2billion a year to its economy – 23% of GDP – and accounts for one in three in private sector jobs, employing 53,000 people.
Its 530,000-strong population swells by a third in summer. Five million visit a year. But Cornwall Chamber of Commerce chief Kim Conchie estimates it lost up to £2bn of tourism revenue last year.
He said: “It’s a matter of clinging on by your fingernails to reopen.” Instead of packing mass tourism in three summer months, he wants highervalue tourism spread
GRAN Ann Mitchell says her estate in Redruth was once plagued by drugs and that G7 leaders should visit to see how a curfew and community action transformed life there.
But she added: “Cornwall doesn’t get anything unless it’s the summertime.” through the year, so local youngsters stay in the sector, rather than see such jobs as short-term.
He believes two famous chefs could help the “upgrade”: “We’ve an opportunity to show we’re not just pasties and pints but Nathan Outlaw and Rick Stein. If people pay a premium for that provenance and traceability and artisanal production, we can turn hospitality into something more prosperous, enabling people to be properly trained and employed all year round.”
Some locals call tourists “emmets” – Cornish for “ants” – and there can be tension when visiting traffic blocks country lanes. Visit
ANDREW Knowles, 28, on furlough from a plastics factory, wants G7 leaders to address economic recovery. He said: “They are going to spend a lot of money to make the summit look nice, but there are not really enough opportunities here for young people.”
Cornwall chief Malcolm Bell says tourism is “feast or famine”. He wants Cornwall to be a premium destination: “The highest priority of the strategy is, ‘Don’t bugger up Cornwall’. We want quality not quantity, value not volume. Peak season’s untenable if it’s too many people.”
Ideas include “workcations” where employees rent a cottage in winter. Truro Mayor Armorel Carlyon, a farmer in her 80s, said: “The tourist industry is fragile – they discover you then drop you. What happened last year was devastating.” Veryan Palmer, director of the five-star Headland Hotel in Newquay, said: “Until the pandemic it wasn’t realised here how reliant most people are on tourism.”
Her hotel shut with most staff furloughed. When it reopened, it was “very busy” and it will host a G7 delegation days before lockdown restrictions end. She said: “G7 is amazing for Cornwall.”
We can show we are not just pints and pasties
KIM CONCHIE LOCAL COMMERCE CHIEF
LIAM Porter, made redundant from a clothing factory, said: “Lockdown made a big impact. I’m on Universal Credit now. “I was on £300 a week and now I get £342 a month. “There are summer jobs but people come in and get them... then the jobs get laid off.”