It appears the discerning people of Italy are swapping pasta for pasties as Cornish holidays grow among our continental cousins. 

A series of seminars presenting Visit Cornwall’s vision for tourism in 2023 heard this week that the “Poldark effect” is still very much a draw despite the BBC series finishing in the UK almost four years ago.

Tourism businesses across the county have been invited to attend four “workshops” where Visit Cornwall, the official tourist board for Cornwall, is outlining how it is promoting the Duchy as a holiday destination following a difficult few years exacerbated by the covid pandemic.

Interim chair of Visit Cornwall Malcolm Bell – who has stayed on to help deal with what he calls the “polycrisis years” despite retiring in 2022 – said a combination of Covid, which changed visitors’ mindsets about travel and ultimately saw “too many tourists” in Cornwall after lockdown was lifted, climate change, the Ukraine war and other volatile territories such as Sudan, the cost of living crisis and political instability in our own country have all added up to impact the holiday market.

A national survey asked 1,700 people their opinions of holidaying in Cornwall – 55 per cent agreed it was too busy in the summer, with 56 per cent saying they would be interested in out of season holidays, while 79 per cent still saw Cornwall as a premier destination for a holiday, with 49 per cent feeling it was affordable to visit.

The conferences heard that the cost of living crisis was definitely having an effect on people’s holiday habits – 54 per cent of people asked said they intend to change the type of accommodation they stay in to reduce costs, while hotels in Cornwall had reported that more holidaymakers are leaving it until the last minute before making a booking decision. Visit Cornwall is now promoting different types of holiday experiences – cycling, historical, wildlife and cultural events rather than the typical bucket and spade beach trips at popular spots.  Businesses heard that dog owners are a growing market as is Italy, which has its own name for Cornwall – Cornovaglia.

Mr Bell said: “Cornwall is always popular with German visitors, but Italy and Norway are now growing areas, and we’re still getting people from America, especially now they are able to travel again. 

“Poldark is currently airing in Italy and we’ve definitely seen interest in Cornish holidays as a result.”

He added that one of Visit Cornwall’s ambitions, alongside Cornwall Council, was to be a global leader in low carbon tourism.

The meetings heard that Visit Cornwall now has a new board after several members decided to leave after seven years’ service. 

The new acting managing director is Mike Steel, while other board members include Trevor Broome, of the Cornish Association of Tourist Attractions (CATA) and manager of the Land’s End attraction, accountant Nicky Cornish, Nathan Cudmore, a senior officer at Cornwall Council, Jon Hyatt, a director at Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay and Cornwall councillor Louis Gardner.