2 minute read
WELCOME
Stop the rollercoaster!
Well, what a time we’ve had since the last edition of Talking Tourism. It’s been more than a rollercoaster ride, it has felt more like one those cutting-edge American rollercoasters that throw and twist upside down, inside out as well as up-and-down. The only difference between how the pandemic has hit the visitor economy and a rollercoaster is that with the rollercoaster you expect at the end of the ride, having been scared witless but to come off smiling and laughing. That certainly isn’t the case with this pandemic, we have gone through We can look the pains of lockdown, the very interesting times of the forward to a tiers, which certainly brought most of us to tears and then profitable summer to lose most of Christmas/ and hopefully a very New Year before moving onto lockdown three and strong autumn. leaving us wondering what support there would be and what the roadmap would be. Well, we now have the roadmap and we do know from the recent Budget announcements the support measures that will be in place, which by and large were welcomed and certainly more generous than some had feared, but not as generous as some had hoped. More importantly in terms of looking on the bright side of life, the strong demand for Devon and Cornwall in what will be the 2021 staycation year. So, on the positive side we know our way out of this current lockdown, we have a vaccine programme that is the envy of the world and we have strong forward bookings. We can look forward to a profitable summer and hopefully a very strong autumn. But even with these strong predictions, we know that this is just the start of recovery, as many, if not most of our businesses and members have had to take on considerable levels of additional debt, which will take more than one good season to make a dent into. Visit Cornwall and Visit Devon have been here to help you, support you with advice and guidance and most importantly to be your representational body. We have been making the asks of both local and national Government.
It has also been a rollercoaster ride for us, with financial strains and being close to closure at times, but we are still here and hopefully with your support we will continue to be here not just for the rest of 21 but for 2022 and beyond. So as we look forward to coming out of lockdown and plan to open your business to make the most of 2021, let us also keep an eye on 2022, when the British public will be very keen to travel abroad again. We will need to work with you on in the autumn, winter and spring of next year to generate business for 2022.
