This summer, I took a drive to my secret summer hideaway
beach. When I got there I shook my head…
what…wait a minute….the car park was full.
Is there an event on? Perhaps a triathlon? As it turns out there wasn’t, but my secret
beach was apparently trending on social media!
The great weather, social media selfies, the rise of Airbnb and
impeding Brexit contributed to one of the busiest summers in Cornwall. Visit Cornwall states that there were 200,000
visitors a day in August 2018. Does this
mean Cornwall has reached tipping point?
Certainly there are a fair few beaches, Watergate Bay, Polzeath and even
Porthcurno right down in the West, to name a few, where the wind breaks create
a little city of people to meander around in the peak weeks. The remote lanes, often single track, leading
to many of the beaches found it hard to cope with the number of cars at the
beginning and end of the day.
Whilst all this is true.
Cornwall did cope. Businesses thrived,
letting agencies were full and Airbnb-ers happy. With the way that the current UK schooling
system works, Cornwall will continue to have these few peak weeks where its
resources are pushed to its limits but a happy influx of people will continue
to arrive to get there Cornish fix.
However, there will always be some people who be deterred
from returning perhaps due to a long, slow journey back at the end of their
stay and others will seek to find other new places to holiday at home but most
will continue to make their annual pilgrimage south west. As long as there are places to stay and the
staycation trend continues, we believe that there will always be a balance on
the edge of full capacity for the peak weeks and the Cornish people will continue
to make the most of the influx of spenders.
The increased exposure along with the continuing variety of things on
offer to do and see in Cornwall in the off peak times and the desire for people
to visit without the crowds will help to drive an increase visitor numbers year
round.