RESEARCH

View from the front

How have residents’ attitudes to tourism changed in recent years? Visit Cornwall provides a research update.

In 2012, Visit Cornwall commissioned research into the views and attitudes of the residents of Cornwall which were overall quite positive. Given the growth of tourism numbers in recent years, the explosion of new providers using platforms such as AirBnB and the impact of the pandemic, Visit Cornwall decided to repeat the survey earlier this year as part of a strategic review of tourism and the future direction of the sector and to understand what local people use as well as their views on tourism.

It is clear from the survey findings that the natural environment and physical landscape such as the sea, coast, beaches, and peace and quiet are some of the most important and most used features amongst residents. In addition, keeping these areas clean, safe, and well maintained are considered of high importance to them. Indeed, when asked to rank their priorities for the contribution that tourism makes to Cornwall in the future, protection, and maintenance of the natural and built environment was the number one choice. However, it should also be noted alongside this that providing better paid/quality tourism jobs and more year-round tourism jobs were the second and third priorities so there is a balance to be struck.

Around three quarters of residents consider the number of visitors to their local area to have increased to some degree over the last few years which does represent a significant shift upwards compared with the 2012 survey findings and this is confirmed by the Cornwall Value of Tourism data which shows that staying visitor nights to the county are estimated to have increased by 10% or 2.2 million between 2012 and 2019.

Encouragingly, the vast majority of residents (83%) feel that tourism is good for the area and a good proportion (29%) feel it has a positive impact on their lives with a further 47% saying it has no impact. There are, however, some issues associated with visitors and litter dropping being problematic. Nonetheless, a good proportion of residents say they enjoy chatting / meeting visitors and would support new tourism facilities to attract more visitors to the area.

However, the successful extending of the tourism season and increased visitor volumes over the last few years could have influenced an overall less positive shift on the whole in terms of residents’ opinions about tourists and tourism since the 2012 survey in a number of areas.

This includes visitors interfering with their enjoyment of where they live, and we recommend that this should be more regularly monitored in future. Overall residents’ support for tourism remains relatively strong, but there may be a tipping point at some stage in the future if visitor numbers begin to impact less positively on their lives.

The vast majority of residents (83%) feel that tourism is good for the area

The top features residents make use of in their local area were the sea and coast (74%), walking and beaches (72% each), the countryside (69%), the views and landscapes (66%) and peace and quiet (63%).

Around two thirds of the residents who think that tourism is a good thing said it was ‘Of great benefit’ for the area. Better protection and improvement of the natural and built environment was ranked as the highest priority by residents for improving the contribution tourism makes to Cornwall and its’ residents overall.

Residents were asked “From the list below what do you think should be the top 4 priorities for improving the contribution that tourism makes to Cornwall and its’ residents overall?”.

Better protection and improvement of the natural and built environment (e.g. managing footpaths and other rights of way etc.) was ranked as the highest priority by residents followed by Provide better paid/ quality tourism jobs (ranked 2nd), Provide more year round tourism jobs (ranked 3rd ) and Improve the cultural offering (ranked 4th). Provide more visitor attractions was ranked 5th and Provide more festivals and events 6th.

Please note that there is no comparable data from the 2012 survey.

When those residents who said tourism was good for the area were asked “To what extent do you think tourism is good for the area?” 62% said it was ‘Of great benefit’, 35% said it was ‘Of some benefit’ and just 2% said it was ‘Of little benefit’.

Please note that there is no comparable data from the 2012 survey.