Tourism minister Nigel Huddleston has praised the tourism industry in Cornwall and Devon but was unable to pledge further support to help them recover from the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Huddleston was at the Eden Project on Friday – one of those which have been hit by Covid-19 and having to shed the equivalent of 150 full time jobs.

He was in the Duchy to hear what impact coronavirus has had on the tourism industry and how it has responded.

Many businesses were forced to close in March during lockdown and then unable to open until July and for many they were unable to operate at full capacity due to social distancing measures.

There have been concerns raised whether some businesses would be able to survive having lost out on such a significant chunk of the main summer season.

Mr Huddleston said: “I spent the last two days in the South West, in Devon and Cornwall and the key thing is what the impact of coronavirus has been absolutely at the coalface in terms of the challenges they have had but also since reopening how things have gone. Talking to hotels about the occupancy rate, talking to the big attractions about how the numbers have gone, what Covid measures have been put in place and also how customers are responding.

“The overwhelming feeling I have been getting is that after an initial slow start the summer has generally gone quite well with lots of people having a British holiday, in some cases for the first time in a very long period of time but really enjoying it which actually I think is a good message and hopefully people who will have more British holidays. They might go back to the Med next year but they are probably more inclined now to have another British holiday.

“Also helping to promote the message that Cornwall is a year round destination with a whole lot to offer because we want people to take a break in the autumn and winter as well and enjoy themselves and help this really important industry that employs lots of people, especially around here, get back on its feet. It is incredibly difficult times but I have been really impressed by the professionalism and the dedication and the tenacity of the people who work in this industry, they have gone through really difficult times but they have done everything that they can to make sure that tourists can come back and have a great time.”

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Mr Huddleston was asked about the wider impact on the Cornish economy and the supply chain to the tourism sector which affects many other industries in the Duchy.

He said: “Tourism across the whole of the UK employs about 1.4 million people directly but about 3m indirectly and when you get real tourism eco-systems and various patches of Cornwall absolutely fit that where a really hefty chunk, in some cases in small towns and villages in the coastal areas 50 per cent of people are reliant on the tourism income.

"How the tourism season goes impacts on how good a winter the plumbers, the decorators and everybody else has because it is the winter period when a lot of people who are sellers of tourism in the summer are the spenders in the winter. The indirect impact, the multiplier effect in economic terms is massive on tourism, particularly in Cornwall. So it’s really important that they have been able to get back on their feet.”

While the Government has helped businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors with schemes such as Eat Out to Help Out and VAT and business rate relief there are concerns that more will be needed to ensure businesses can stay open and are able to return for the summer season next year.

Mr Huddleston said that the schemes had had a positive impact and stressed that some measures would remain in place until next year, but he was unable to promise further support.

“Some of the measures have had a direct impact – the furlough programme, the business rates relief and grants schemes – many of which were specifically targeted at hospitality and leisure have absolutely worked.

“Slightly more longer term we have the cut VAT for tourism which has been hugely important, the industry has been calling for it for years and that will go until January 12 so that is lasting a few more months. The VAT saving has sometimes been passed on to end users but sometimes, perfectly validly and understandably, it has been absorbed by the business in order to help with cash flow and in order to keep the business going.

"The business rates relief is through to next year.

“I think with measures like Eat Out to Help Out the Chancellor has shown that creative, some might say weird and wacky, untried and untested measures we are happy to try them out and we are looking at the impact of Eat Out to Help Out to see if there are any lessons to be learned for future interventions as well.

"I can’t say anything today that is on the cards but I think you can see from our track record of the last few months of willingness to intervene which is quite unusual for this government.”