Cornwall locals who branded tourists ‘ants’ are now desperate for them to return – as restaurants, hotels and pubs are left on the brink by Labour’s skyrocketing rates
Just a year ago, locals in some of Cornwall’s most popular towns were busy complaining about the impact holidaymakers were having on their daily lives.
Full-time residents angered by the ‘capture by tourists’ of resorts such as St Ives, where nearly one in six homes in the picturesque Cornish town is a holiday home, are vocal in their desire to reclaim the coastal areas where they grew up.
Perhaps the most graphic example of such frustration was this: In the last major summer staycation in 2022, Malcolm Bell, chairman of now-defunct tourism organization Visit Cornwall, said the region only wanted ‘a certain type’ of holidaymakers.
he said Cornwall Live back then: ‘You have your friends, then you have your guests, then you have your tourists, then you have your fucking tourists, then you have your fucking emmets. You can quote me on this.’
Emmets is the Cornish word for ants and is slang for tourists. The term also appears on road signs in the holiday region, despite the industry contributing £2bn a year to the local economy.
A potentially frosty reception has undoubtedly had an impact on visitor numbers to the South West; tourism fell 12 percent in 2024, rising slightly last year.
Visitors who were once attracted to the region for its beautiful seaside villages and warm climate cited high costs, clogged traffic and crowded beaches as reasons to stay away.
In the autumn Cornwall’s official tourist board went into voluntary liquidation, saying it faced ‘insurmountable financial difficulties’.
The Iran War has sparked a fuel crisis that could see Cornwall experience its biggest staycation season since the pandemic; Struggling business owners say tourists are needed more than ever
Locals have made their disdain for mass tourism clear by covering this sign in the port town of Hayle with graffiti describing visitors as emmets (the Cornish word for ‘ants’).
If locals’ complaints about overtourism are a minor headache for those whose livelihoods depend on the area’s hospitality industry, they say it’s nothing compared to the sledgehammer blow the government has imposed through skyrocketing rates, which began in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ October budget.
Labor increased the national living wage for people aged 21 and over to £12.71 per hour this month; An increase of 4.1 per cent which, along with increases in the minimum wage, national insurance contributions and the introduction of pension auto-enrolment, has left many Cornish business owners fearing bankruptcy.
The victims are already piling up. On a gloomy February day, four pubs closed on the same day, including the Golden Lion in Port Isaac, which was featured on the television show Doc Martin.
Pityme Inn in St Minver, London Inn in Padstow and The entire Lugger Inn in Polruan The Cornish Inns group was abruptly closed after the company’s co-manager Jason Black said there was ‘insufficient capital left to continue safely and responsibly’.
Vanessa Clark, manager of Falmouth seaside restaurant Indidog, says she is not currently charging to ensure the business remains stable after interest rate rises
In March, popular Falmouth restaurant Hevva!, headed by chef Will Johnson, announced that it would close its doors just weeks after being included in the 2026 Michelin Guide.
While Johnson told customers on Instagram that ‘too good deals’ in London contributed to the closure of the popular restaurant, he acknowledged that ‘times are tough for restaurants and they’re getting tougher’.
Another restaurateur, also in Falmouth, shared with the Daily Mail this week the realities of trying to run a business while hampered by rising rates.
Vanessa Clark, 52, has run the 100-seat, Grade II-listed seaside eatery Indidog since 2019 but says neither she nor her husband Simon have received a penny in wages as they struggle to escape the impact of Labour’s quadrupling interest rates.
He added: ‘Last year it was an extra £1,300 for each member of staff and we have an average of 31 staff. This cost us around £50,000. They later changed the tax to ease business rates.
‘What I need to do now is pay more for more senior people, not many of them.o I have a more effective team. I can’t train young people anymore because it’s very rare to find someone who can hit the ground running at 16 or 20.
‘I don’t make any money and people who are 18 are making more than me. How can they say to me because I own a company, “You wear the t-shirt, so you don’t get paid?” ‘It’s trying.’
Brothers Hugh (left) and Steve Ridgway, who have run the St Moritz Hotel and Cowshed Spa in Polzeath since 2004, say many in the hospitality industry feel a sense of “utter disappointment and despair”.
The mental and physical toll is clear. He continues: ‘I’m a pretty positive person, I’ve worked in a blue chip company or two and I’m pretty familiar with the idea that if something goes wrong, you can find a positive outcome, but that’s too much at once.
‘We I’m backed into a corner, I have no one to talk to about it, I have nowhere to go fair representation. ‘We have three profitable months left in 12 months, and it’s not because we haven’t done anything well.’
At the luxury hotel St Moritz Hotel and Cowshed Spa in Polzeath, which has been owned by brothers Hugh and Steve Ridgway since 2004, staff numbers have fallen from 95 to 83 despite the biggest summer shutdown since the pandemic sparked by fears over aviation fuel supplies.
Hugh says: ‘The government is pricing people out of the market. We cannot afford to employ people. No one is more passionate than me about helping people earn a decent living on minimum wage. But we can only do this when the economy allows us to do so.
‘I think what the Government has forgotten is that the 40-hour-a-week minimum wage is currently at the upper end of £26,000 per year. When we add in NI and pension costs, a minimum wage earner costs us £34,000 a year. A heartbeat ago we were paying this much for highly qualified graduates.’
Hotel owner Hugh Ridgway says holidaymakers deserve a warmer welcome in Cornwall and locals need to be wary of overtourism
It’s hard not to be angry, he says, when business owners in the area say they feel “utter disappointment and despair.”
‘We have a government that appears to be completely paralyzed. They came to power by saying “Grow, grow, grow” and the first thing they did was to impose a tax on employment. This is the economics of the asylum.’
He adds: ‘We need to be very innovative and very resourceful in the hospitality industry at the moment because the government is making life very difficult for us.’
What about these unhappy locals? Ridgway doesn’t have much sympathy.
He says: ‘The only time Cornwall was oversubscribed was in 2022 when we emerged from the pandemic, but this is the first time it’s ever happened.
‘There is a very loud, small minority talking about overtourism’But they should be very, very careful about what they wish for, because we [the hospitality industry] 20 percent of the economy is here.
‘TThe tourism sector employs many young people. We At our first port of call, we train them and instill a work ethic in them.
‘We are a great stepping stone to future employment. So yes, people need to be careful what they wish for.’
Could tourists visiting Cornwall work a little harder to endear themselves to the locals?
Vanessa Clark, owner of Indidog, says successful holidays are often a two-way street.
He adds: ‘If you go to Cornwall and want to have a good time, thank people in the store, smile at them, ask how they are. HEyour Our customers are lovely and we give them everything we have.’
Ridgway is optimistic that Cornwall’s tried-and-tested formula of great food, great beaches and, yes, a warm welcome will help keep the region’s hospitality industry afloat this summer despite rate rises.
‘Cornwall is particularly special. It’s just such a small distance away from everywhere else and it’s magical.
‘Where we sit we see a wonderful light reflected from the Atlantic Ocean. We have extraordinary beaches, we have surfing opportunities. You can play in the water, under the water, on the water.
‘You can definitely have a great time. That’s what my team will offer this summer.’
