Rural Tourism

Airbnb boss: ‘Cornwall’s more popular than London’

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Airbnb is a fascinating phenomenon both driving and reflecting change. This article is an example of its power to drive rural economic trends. It tells us:

Airbnb was hit hard by Covid last spring, shedding a quarter of its workforce. Throughout 2020 it experienced booking levels lower than 2019.

But despite an unprecedented drop in international travel, people still booked accommodation for domestic holidays when local lockdowns eased. 

So property rental firms like Airbnb, whose revenues grew by 5% in the first quarter of 2021, were not as badly hit as airlines or package holiday operators.

However, its figures now reveal a big change in customer behaviour.

“Rural nights booked in the UK used to be a quarter of our bookings, they’re now half,” Mr Chesky tells the BBC. 

Cornwall is the country’s most-booked summer location in 2021, a title previously held by London.

Globally, domestic bookings went up from 50% in January 2020 to 80% in 2021, according to Airbnb’s newly released report, Travel & Living, May 2021.

Another long-term change is becoming evident, according to Mr Chesky. He believes people are increasingly using Airbnb for remote working opportunities, rather than just holidays. They crave a change of scene, perhaps, rather than just a short, sharp break from the nine-to-five.

Why UK farmers are cashing in on the boom in rural staycations

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Long may this trend continue. I am not sure if there has been a more turbulent up and down time for farming since the Second World War – this is one of the ups. The article tells us:

The property agency Savills, which advises landowners moving into the tourism and leisure sectors, says the pandemic has accelerated existing holiday trends, with many more farmers and estates diversifying their businesses to cater for increasing numbers of tourists opting for camping, glamping sites and holiday cottages in the UK.

Simon Foster, Savills’ director of tourism, says that these are likely to be long-lasting changes: “Our view is that it’s here to stay,” he says.

“People are looking for somewhere safe, secure, secluded, where they can hunker down for a week, rather than staying in a big resort or a big caravan park or hotel.

“That trend for rural holiday accommodation, whether it be glamping or cottages, has gone through the roof in the last month or two – and will continue to remain strong.”

James Smith from the Cool Camping website estimates that there are twice as many new camping sites this year than last, with many of them on farmland. “Places are so booked up that people are struggling to find anywhere,” he says. “There are a lot of businesses that are seeing this as an opportunity and setting up sites pretty quickly.”

Far from the madding crowd: UK staycation destinations to try this summer

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I’m not sure that many of these places are actually very far from the madding crowd, even the Peak District is ringed by Derby, Stoke, Manchester and Sheffield. Nonetheless some interesting options for those keen to get a break here.

For many, a British holiday means a trip to well-known holiday boltholes such as Devon and Cornwall, the Lake District or the New Forest. But there is real beauty in slightly less trodden parts of coastal, urban and rural Britain.

The Peak District

When it comes to spectacular hills and rolling rivers, the Peak District is sometimes unfairly overlooked in favour of the more tourist-heavy Lake District. If you want miles of unspoilt countryside, with plenty for the kids to enjoy, then the Peak District national park has everything you need. 

The Northumberland coast

With more castles than any other English county, you will never be short of ideas for a day trip in Northumberland. Perhaps the most dramatic medieval seat is Lindisfarne castle, which sits atop a volcanic mound a few miles off the Northumberland coast. Sadly, due to coronavirus the castle remains closed but Holy Island itself is open.

Mersea island, Essex

A short hop from London, this tiny estuary island has been a somewhat-secret place of pilgrimage for seafood fans for years. Across the Strood – the ancient Roman causeway that links Mersea to the mainland – lies what is said to be the UK’s most easterly inhabited island. 

York

While most UK holidays involve a pilgrimage to the coast or countryside, travel experts say people may be missing a trick by not visiting cities. City hotels have not enjoyed the same booking boom as those by the seaside since lockdown restrictions were eased but many are offering great deals. York is one of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations in normal times but its visitor income has disappeared virtually overnight. The biggest surviving remains of York castle, Clifford’s Tower, reopens to visitors from Saturday, as does the castle museum. Enjoy alongside the city’s other plentiful attractions, shops, bars and restaurants.

What to do on the north Norfolk coast

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This article gave me an “ache” to get back to our favourite holiday location. It comes from the international perspective of National Geographic and it describes one of the most attractive parts of England in the following terms:

Strung with vast and often-deserted beaches, the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is one of the county’s primary draws. It’s not just the beaches that lure visitors, however — backed by dunes and fringed with pine forests, this dramatic, 175sq-mile stretch of rural England also features mudflats and saltmarshes that teem with a rich variety of wildlife. Base yourself in the heart of the AONB and you’ll find plenty to while away a weekend: charming flint houses and medieval churches in sleepy villages like Wells-next-the-Sea and Burnham Market, bracing walks in the sea breeze, and a fantastic food scene, with fresh, locally caught fish taking a starring role on menus all along the coast. visitnorfolk.co.uk

Rural Yorkshire’s residents subjected to ‘misery’ due to influx of motorbikes, says crime commissioner

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Here is another spin on unwelcome “townies” in a rural setting. This is a thoughtful article showing that we need to remember there are two sides to situations like this. We do need to soon start welcoming visitors back to rural settings if we are going to have any tourism jobs left for the longer term. This story tells us:

As residents of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors national parks and surrounding areas braced themselves for a continuation of what some claim has been record numbers of motorbikes visiting the county in recent weekends, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said residents were being subjected to “alarming and unfair behaviour”.

Her comments follow calls from members of a Yorkshire Dales National Park advisory body to launch vehicle-free days to recapture the tranquillity of the strictest lockdown period and chairman of the North York Moors National Park Authority Jim Bailey stating the area was not the place for “noise for the sake of making noise”.

Mr Bailey said while those living in the park area needed to be accommodating as it was unclear how visitors may have been affected by the pandemic, there was “a need to be more tolerant, and that goes both ways”.

Meanwhile, residents and visitors to the national parks have made scores of complaints this week about motorcyclists using machines with noisy illegal exhausts.

Heather Walker, who lives near Grassington, said she had been suffering “ear blasting” noise from motorbikes from 5am on a weekend morning until dark.

Coronavirus: Slash VAT on rural tourism firms to 5%, CLA says

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I applaud this idea from the CLA as a good basis on which to think about supporting the emergence of tourism activities from the virus.

Calls have been made for VAT on tourism businesses to be slashed to 5 percent in order to boost the rural economy post-Covid-19.

It comes as figures show tourism firms in the countryside will see revenues fall by up to £17.6 billion this year due to the virus outbreak.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has suggested a drop in VAT from 20% down to 5% as a measure to soften the blow.

It highlighted that the UK’s rate is far higher than in other countries, including France (10%), Spain (10%) and Greece (13%).

The call comes as the group, which represents 30,000 rural businesses, released a raft of new suggestions to get the rural economy moving.

CLA President Mark Bridgeman said: “When the restrictions are lifted we are encouraging everyone to book their family holiday in the beauty and safety of the British landscape.

“We hope that people are looking forward to enjoying the tranquillity and space that the rural and coastal areas have to offer and enjoy.”

A reduction in VAT to levels seen in other countries would ensure that domestic tourism is competitive and affordable, he said.

And competitive pricing would significantly boost the economy and keep the UK’s carbon footprint down.

The CLA’s paper ‘COVID-19: Re-starting the economy in rural areas’ argues that rural areas have an advantage to social distancing thanks to lower population density, more space and less reliance on public transport.

Other proposals in the report include the tapering of furloughing schemes and other business support measures slowly to avoid a cliff edge.

Welcoming Britain back: tourism businesses set out post-lockdown plans

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I personally, particularly in the light of the PM’s revised guidance, wonder why those places with lots of open space can’t begin opening up again, as long as visitors remain responsible. I was recently looking at the impact of the coronavirus on tourism businesses in parts of Lincolnshire and I am very worried indeed about the future, not just for the businesses themselves but their wider supply chain and the seasonal workers they won’t be able to take on this year. This story tells us:

Tourist boards across the UK are setting out plans for a phased reopening of attractions and businesses as they endeavour to salvage some of the 2020 season. “We can’t afford to wait until lockdown’s over and find we’ve not got the plans in place,” said Gill Haigh, chief executive of Cumbria Tourism. “The question is how we reset.”

It’s a big question. Discussions around what to open and when are taking place against a backdrop of huge public anxiety about coming out of lockdown. An Observer poll at the weekend found that the majority of people believe it’s too soon to ease restrictions, and local people are understandably furious with those do flout the current rules, as happened this week in the Lake District.

The challenge for destinations is giving tourism the shot in the arm that it desperately needs while reassuring visitors, employees and residents that they will be safe. As a result of that delicate balancing act, holidaying in the UK this summer may well feel like we’ve time-travelled back to the 1950s, before the advent of affordable foreign travel: there will be day trips to beaches, parks and gardens; we’ll be able to buy an ice-cream but won’t be dining in a crowded restaurant; if it rains we won’t be sheltering in the nearest museum or indoor activity centre.

Outdoor spaces in rural and coastal areas and attractions with large grounds will be the first to welcome visitors, not just because those are places where social distancing can be maintained but because, post-lockdown, people will be drawn to nature for its calming effects.

Inside Bicester Village – the bizarre shopping centre that’s as popular as Buckingham Palace with Chinese tourists

I find these places “hell on earth” and currently Christmas “hell on earth” but some people like them including tourists…..

You may never had heard of it, but this rural England shopping centre is almost as popular among Chinese tourists as Buckingham Palace.

From end to end, the high street of Bicester Village stretches the same length as the Champs Elysee, according to chief merchant Desiree Bollier. However the high-end outlet village out on a limb an hour from London perhaps bears more similarities with the Las Vegas strip, the quiet wilds of Oxfordshire its Nevada desert.

Either way, the artificial high street boasts visitor numbers that would draw envy from both Sin City and the French capital, with 6.4 million treading its well-manicured retail avenue last year – a number that aligns Bicester with the UK’s most popular attraction, the British Museum, and trumps the National Gallery and Tate Modern.

This week it opened a new extension, adding some 30 more boutiques to its 130 existing. Fashion operators Roksanda and Christopher Kane, Orlebar Brown and Valentino join the big names of Prada, Gucci, Armani and Versace.

The draw, however, is not so much the brands as the bargains: up and down the Village (incidentally the same length, too, as Oxford Street, at 1.2 miles), hefty percentage cuts slash eye-watering numbers down to merely ludicrous. More humane outlets – North Face, Levi’s, Clark’s, and the like, also offer discounts, providing decent buys for sartorial mortals.

Kidlington ‘mystery tourists’ baffle Oxfordshire village

Fascinating story about what constitutes tourism in a rural setting. I do wonder why someone hasn’t resolved this riddle by just asking the people concerned about the purpose of their visit. Perhaps our traditional reserve has prevented such an intrusive question. I love the story from Seven Pillars of Wisdom where after weeks alone in the desert Lawrence of Arabia sees camel approaching across the desert. He realizes the rider is English however in the middle of miles of sand he and the other person decide not to converse as they haven’t been formally introduced…

Residents of an Oxfordshire village have been baffled by the weekly appearance of “coach loads” of tourists in their road.

Groups of sightseers in Kidlington have been seen posing for photos in front gardens and against parked cars.

Locals have no idea why the quiet suburb, about five miles north of Oxford, has become a tourist magnet.

Inspector Morse, Love Island and Harry Potter are among the causes suggested for the tourists’ interest.

The phenomenon was first identified in Benmead Road and the Moors on the Spotted: Kidlington Facebook page.

The tourists are a short walk from thatched cottages and an old church, but prefer taking photos of themselves outside modern houses.

“I do find it hilarious, but I am at a loss to understand it,” one poster said. “Whose idea was it to turn Benmead Road into a tourist attraction?”

Residents say the groups have been appearing for the last three weeks.

“I have only seen them once. At midday on Saturday a busload of tourists disembarked with their selfie sticks, taking pictures of people’s houses,” said one.

“It is bizarre, these aren’t even the oldest houses in the village.”

The Gobbins: Dramatic Islandmagee coastal path reopens after revamp

This walk is not for the squeamish. Its reopening reminds us of the huge and dramatic potential of the British landscape in terms of adventure and white knuckle aspects of modern tourism. The article tells us:

A dramatic cliff face walk in County Antrim that was built more than a century ago has reopened to the public after multi-million pound revamp.

The Gobbins coastal path in Islandmagee was the brainchild of Irish railway engineer Berkley Deane Wise.

It first opened in 1902 and quickly became famous as a white knuckle walk.

Edwardian era visitors were able to have a close encounter with waves and wildlife.

The path, which is carved into black basalt cliffs, was an engineering triumph – it’s connected by a network of walkways and bridges – the most iconic of which was the tubular bridge.

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