By Paula Thelwell
WHEN a county can lay claim to being the historically most popular holiday destination in the UK, it can afford to be choosy about who it wants to attract.
Tourism is a double-edged sword for the Cornish. While it brings in much-needed revenue and creates jobs, it has transformed many places from tight-knit communities to ghost towns out of season.
Not surprisingly, tensions can run high between locals and visitors – and second-home owners – but who would have expected the chief executive of Visit Cornwall to wade in?
As Malcolm Bell is due to retire next year, he probably thought it was time from some straight talking.
Speaking to CornwallLive, he said it was time to target ‘the right people’ rather than ‘f***ing emmets’ (ants in the Cornish language and used as a derogatory term for holidaymakers).
He went further by ranking visitors to Cornwall in five categories, starting with ‘friends’, then ‘guests’, ‘tourists’, ‘bloody tourists’ and, lastly, the afore-described emmets.
In 2021, with the pandemic preventing overseas travel – in particular at the cheaper package end of the market – the south-west of England was inundated with new visitors.
There were many times when an exasperated Mr Bell, and people working at the coal-face of tourism, vented their anger at the behaviour and attitude of some tourists more used to sunning themselves on some Spanish costa or Mediterranean island where the nightlife is more exotic and the booze flows freely and more cheaply.
He was, however, critical of a banner that straddled a bridge on the A30 near Bodmin advising visitors to ‘f*** off’.
Mr Bell is not alone in wanting to attract ‘the right people’.
When it looked like Covid-19 may stop Love Island from being filmed in the usual sun-drenched destination, producers scoured the British Isles for a suitable location, with Jersey and Devon under consideration.
The suggestion did not go down well in England’s second-biggest county, with Visit Devon commenting that the TV franchise – albeit popular in 22 countries around the world – may not be an image it wished to sign up to.
If I recall correctly, the prospect was received far more favourably in the Island.
Like Surreal Housewives, it is an acquired form of ‘entertainment’ that can either attract or deter visitors.
As Mr Bell said, it all depends on how a holiday destination promotes itself and to which particular target market.
Or, as the French say, à chacun ses goûts.
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I’m dreaming of a fishy Christmas
The prospect of chlorine-washed chicken becoming available in the British and local retail market, should a trade deal be struck with the US, is enough to put me off eating poultry for life.
The curious practice of washing chicken in chlorine and other disinfectants to remove harmful bacteria was banned in the EU 25 years ago.
Post-Brexit, and as the UK seeks new markets across the Atlantic, there are concerns that the product could be part of new agreements. And the same would apply to hormone-treated beef.
Environment Minister Jonathan Renouf has confirmed that Jersey would be powerless in preventing supermarkets from importing this dubious product if it became available in the UK.
Alas, I have been forced to give up eating poultry as it no longer meets my long-held preference that it must be free-range and from birds with fresh-growing grass in their diets.
Bird-flu restrictions currently in place require chickens, ducks and turkeys to be kept inside. Although producers who adhere to the highest standards of poultry production can technically retain their superior status for up to 60 days, their birds are not able to roam and feed in the open air.
It will be a seafood Christmas this year chez Thelwell.
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Croc a doodle
Around the time I was in heaven a week or so ago, surrounded by some of David Hockney’s stunning iPad-generated artworks in Salt’s Mill in West Yorkshire, the greatest living British artist was creating a stir at Buckingham Palace.
He was a guest at the annual lunch for holders of the Order of Merit and the first to be hosted by King Charles.
Sadly, Hockney arrived in a wheelchair, looking frail but resplendent in a pair of bright yellow Crocs shoes.
Bradford-born Hockney, who lives in Brittany, is now 85 but as productive and innovative as he was in his youth with a new immersive art show – in which people will feel as if they are part of his artwork – due to open in the new year.
After falling out of fashion, Crocs are back in favour.
They have been my chosen footwear for the past 20-odd summers, so convenient when so much time is spent on the beach.
It is happy times when they come out of winter hibernation to slosh around in until falling sea temperatures necessitate a return to walking boots and wellies.
The most daring colour I have ever worn is pink but 2023 could be the time for a bright yellow pair or ones designed by Hockney.
Here’s hoping.
