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.
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