Below is an email I sent to all of the Cornish MPs.
I am writing to ask for your view about Visit England.
Visit England/Britain are the national tourism agency and a first reference point for many visitors. Their promotion of Cornwall makes much of our coastline and countryside but makes no mention of the Cornish language, culture or history.
National minority means that the Cornish have a right to express, preserve,
share and develop our distinct culture and identity.
The Cornish were recognised as a national minority in 2014.
It’s over half a decade since minority status was officially recognised, for the national tourism agency to ignore this seems wrong and also ignores the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities that affords the Cornish the same status as the UK’s other Celtic people, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish, but more than that it’s also doing visitors a great disservice by not giving them a fuller picture of the Duchy.
The success in many parts of the world of television programmes and films set in Cornwall have given Cornwall a known identity so greater recognition of Cornish culture and history by Visit England could bring more overseas
visitors who would realise the Duchy has something more to offer.
I have emailed Visit England to ask about minority status and representation of the Cornish but all they could tell me was that they did not have any statistics so could not answer the question.
I do not believe that it would be very difficult for Visit England to add a few lines or a paragraph on their Cornwall section to mention Cornish culture and identity.
If you can tell me your view on this subject it would be most appreciated and if you agree to post your response on our site.
Thank you for your time.
The first response within a couple of hours was from Derek Thomas MP for West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Thank you. I agree. It would seem basic practice to promote all positive aspects of a visitor destination and our language, culture and heritage is certainly part of the attraction for visitors ‘in the know’.
The sensible route would be to ask Visit Cornwall to provide Visit England with the information we would want on their site. The potential positive outcome is that we would see an increased number of visitors in the shoulder months and in winter who prefer a quieter experience to explore this asset of ours. This would certainly have the support of Visit Cornwall members.
Let me know if there is something further I can do to help!
Kind regards,
Derek Thomas MPFor West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (St Ives)
The next was again within a few hours from Scott Mann MP for North Cornwall.
Scott has just discussed the contents of your email with me and he mentioned that the idea of a Cornish Heritage as part of a devolution deal was raised previously by George Eustice MP. If Cornwall wants this to happen it would need to be driven by Cornwall Council as part of their next devolution ask.
I would urge you to go through Cornwall Council to see if this can be taken forward.
Kind regards,
Rachel
Rachel Beadle
Office Manager
Office of Scott Mann MP (North Cornwall)
The email from Scott Mann is particularly interesting as it raises the idea of Cornish Heritage but a look on devolution and Cornish Heritage on the Cornwall Council website only states
The final area of agreement is heritage and culture. The Government have pledged support for the creation of a Cornish Heritage Environment Forum.
A Cornish Heritage Environment Forum.. That is certainly ambiguous.
But this and Visit England will be raised hopefully this week with a discussion with a representative from Cornwall Council. I will be writing more about this in the coming days as I get more information.
KernowCalling 