Scrap bookings from coronavirus hotspots, says Cornwall tourist boss

CORNWALL’S tourism boss says accommodation providers should decline bookings from visitors coming from areas with a ‘ very high’ Covid alert level.

Some holiday home owners in Cornwall say they’ve been left in the dark about who they should be letting to as the three tier system – medium, high and very high risk level areas – is imposed across the country.

There are concerns some people could be travelling from areas of the UK where there are higher levels of coronavirus, and risking the health of people in the South West.

Cornwall’s tourism boss, Malcolm Bell, says accommodation providers should cancel any existing bookings from people from very high risk areas, and decline new bookings.

“I realise people’s concerns and the government have made it clear that the advice is not to travel out of a very high zone and that includes for holidays/breaks,” said Mr Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall.

“Visit Cornwall are building a spreadsheet of postcodes in the very high risk areas to help accommodation businesses to be able to contact customers to cancel their holidays or rebook for next year.

“The problem with the proposal to ban people is how do you stop them? We cannot have police road blocks and even if we did – how do you really know where someone has come from if they hire a car outside the zones, etc?

“That is why we are helping all accommodation providers with the details of the zones and informing them that they must decline booking and contact customers from these areas.”