TOURISM STRATEGY
2030 and Beyond Visit Cornwall chief executive, Malcolm Bell, shares details of his new tourism strategy and explains why the key to managing growth should be value over volume. I wrote my first strategic review of tourism in 1995 when Cornish tourism was still in the doldrums and in fact was designated as a tourism development action programme area, which put it into the same category as Blackpool and Skegness! In other words, a destination in decline, whose best days were behind it. Roll on 25 years and Cornwall has been awarded top UK holiday region in the British Travel Awards for 10 years out of the last 11. So, if Cornish tourism is a success, why do we need a new strategy? Quite simply the competition is after our crown and there is a real danger that our success may become our downfall, with over tourism leading to losing our premium status and rates, a growing resistance from local people to tourism and losing our higher spending customers. Now is the time to firstly build on our strength and secondly head off over tourism problems and last but not least, fully embed sustainable and regenerative tourism. Over the last 15 months, myself and Abi Steel assisted by Dominic Houston of Houston Economics have reviewed the current position of Cornwall, the future trends and policies for tourism development and taken into account the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to prepare a draft strategy for consultation with the private and public sector. Over the past weeks there has been a series of consultation meetings to hone the strategy and most importantly agree the priorities for action.
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Here are the key messages and conclusions from the review to date. • We must protect and improve the quality of environment and life in Cornwall. • There is an urgent need to develop mechanisms to manage and control the supply side to avoid the negative impacts with “over tourism”. • Limited growth in numbers in the peak season/weeks - any growth must be in value over volume as well as a major focus on winter and the shoulder seasons.
Tourism Development Part of economic growth agenda Driver for employment creation and reducing unemployment Focus on visitor wants No direct consideration of impacts on environment and communities
Sustainable Tourism Visitors Satisfied Environment Protected
• Given the demographic changes, especially relatively wealthy seniors/ pensioners, combined with societal changes in a post Covid crisis world from new working practices, there is a great opportunity to tackle seasonality and to significantly grow tourism out of season.
Residents accepting
• Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly should use the future development of tourism to be a force for good for the region and local communities, by improving the quality of life and employment for local people, the diversity of nature/wildlife and the quality of the environment.
Improve environment
• Cornwall should be an exemplar for the development, implementation and delivery of high-quality workplace training and career development, to ensure that those in the sector can, if they desire, reach their full potential. • Cornwall should be the location of a national or even international research & development centre of excellence for sustainable, competitive and regenerative tourism.
Business competitive Accessibility & Inclusion Climate Change Agenda Net Zero Carbon
Regenerative Development Increase natural diversity Rewilding Increasing quality of life Increasing cultural offer Whole system approach Resilient Future proof
Circular Economy Retain money within local areas Support local businesses Reduce waste Reuse, sharing and recycling Minimising resource inputs Retain money within local areas Local energy sources Reduce carbon & Net zero
TALKING TOURISM
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