Inside Cornwall's crumbing tourism as holiday homes left abandoned in ghost towns

Tourism is said to be at risk of crumbling in because Brits are snubbing for cheaper trips abroad.

A mass exodus of holiday homes in the county is having a "detrimental" impact on tourism, travel companies say. Holiday homeowners are selling in their droves because they can't sustain their trade, it is believed.

Zak Ali, commercial leader for Together Travel, said travel agents are facing mass redundancies because there aren't enough properties to go round. He added: "Agents are losing properties as a direct result of not being able to deliver on bookings because of the uncertainty on the market."

Skyrocketing costs of utilities and council tax has had a knock on effect on Airbnb and holiday home owners, making UK stays unsustainable.

And Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) are being abolished next year. These are short-term holiday rentals that were previously entitled to tax relief, yet they will lose these benefits from April 6, 2025, pushing up the costs for owners.

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Mr Ali said: "The FHL changes that are coming into place soon are also causing a lot of panic and issues to homeowners who are selling up." From next year, income and gains from FHLs will be considered as part of the owner’s property business and receive the same tax treatment as all other property income and gains, reports.

Cornish properties deemed to be second homes will face a 100 percent increase in council tax bills, also from April 2025. Mr Ali explains how “retaining staff is a real challenge” in the property industry at the moment due to companies not having enough homes for employees to manage.

He said: “I know for a fact larger agencies who have a lot of staff have been making redundancies because of lower expected income and the dwindling numbers of properties.”

Truro in Cornwall saw the biggest increase in homes for sale in September than any other region in the country, according to the latest house price index by property website Zoopla.

There were 47 percent more properties on the market last month in Truro and surrounding areas than it had on average for the previous six Septembers.

Many people opt to spend their holidays in Cornwall, being one of the UK’s top holiday destinations. However, with week-long package deals abroad becoming cheaper than holiday lets, “it's losing out on a key supply of tourists”.

Mr Ali continued: “We've seen it in the summer we’ve just had already, the destination has not been as strong as it has been historically. The tourism industry will see a negative impact. I think it will be detrimental to the overall income generated on the back of tourism.”

Cornwall’s tourism industry is worth £2bn annually, or 15 percent of the local economy, with the region receiving four million overnight visits a year, according to Cornwall Council.