By Tristan Price of South East Cornwall labour Party

The summer holidays are upon us. Silly season! For many Cornish locals this is a mixed experience. For some it brings traffic jams, crowded streets and a general hassle we could do without. For others it brings much needed income, vibrancy to our villages and towns, and a chance to show others the best side of our communities.

I love our tourists! While I can get annoyed at some drivers with their big cars on our small roads, and angered by the lack of respect shown by some drunken revellers on our north coast beaches, by and large my experience is a positive one. The tourists I meet love Cornwall, and that love is reflected in the way they respect the coastline, want to support local communities where possible, and are generally just friendly,lovely folk.

Tourism accounts for 12-14 % of GDP in Cornwall and this proportion is growing. That figure is important: it is big enough that we should never be complacent or naïve about the importance of tourism to our economy. But it is not that big! The vast majority of wealth generated in Cornwall is createdby other aspects of the economy.

Tourism is a “trickle up” economy; while it can create wealth for some, for many it provides jobs rather than careers, and these are jobs that are insecure, seasonal, and lowly paid.Unchecked, which it has been, tourism also puts unsustainable pressure on the housing market, pricing locals out of homes.

This is a problem because Cornwall is poor and increasing the proportion of tourism in our economy is not going to make most of us wealthier. This problem needs to be managed, by mitigating the negative impacts of tourism (for example through housing policy), and actively seeking to invest in other areas of the economy that bring greater wealth to the people who live and work here.

The Conservative government and our Tory MPs have failed Cornwall and we all know it. They have not levelled up our county or our country. New investment in our communities does not come close to the loss of investment that we previously received from EU funding. The attitude of the government and our Cornish MPs seems to have been that the only way forward for Cornwall is to move ever closer to being a playground for the super wealthy.

A Labour government will invest in our communities. Labour are campaigning for First Homes not Second Homes. A Labour government will give our region more power to make real decisions for our future to grow a sustainable economy.

It saddens me when I see people displaying resentment to tourists. I understand why, but I feel it is misplaced. The Tories, not the Tourists, are the cause of our problems. We do not need, and should not accept, becoming ever more dependent on tourism at the expense of the needs of our communities. We can start to fix the problem by voting for Labour councillors and Labour MPs at the next election.