Cornish hotels report uptick in bookings following G7 announcement

Hotels in Cornwall are reporting an uptick in web traffic and bookings after the announcement that Carbis Bay will host the G7 Summit this summer.

From 11-13 June world leaders will descend on the seaside resort, and Tregenna Castle in St Ives (pictured) has been chosen as one of the official venues. The resort, which has 99 bedrooms and 55 self-catering properties, saw a 2,073% increase in web traffic following the announcement alongside a 282% increase in revenue.

Susie Excell, marketing manager at Tregenna Castle, said: “This will undoubtedly be a real positive for Cornwall and we are honoured to be part of a crucial time in our world history. We have already had an exceptional boost to our online traffic since the news broke.”

While it is not confirmed that it is the G7 Summit that is driving interest, hotel rooms and self-catering properties operated in Cornwall by the Stein family have seen a 110% uplift in the past week in bookings.

Meanwhile, David Richards, owner of the 19-bedroom Idle Rocks and St Mawes hotel, said the Idle Rocks had seen a “considerable increase in bookings either side and during the weekend” of the summit, with the hotel now fully booked for this period.

He added: “We hope this provides an opportunity for the local economy to thrive following a challenging period.”

The uplift in bookings will be a welcome boost to Cornish hospitality businesses following a year of repeated closures and restrictions in 2020 that affected trading. Last year Cornwall Council estimated that the first lockdown alone resulted in an estimated £630m loss to its tourism sector by the end of June.

Profitroom, which helps hoteliers drive direct bookings, has said it is seeing a rise in demand for the UK in general, especially from March onwards and the Easter and May bank holidays. A spokesperson said hoteliers need to be able to respond to "instant demand" generated from positive announcements from the press and government; for example when the prime minister announced vaccine roll-out success on 17 January, Profitroom saw a surge in bookings for the following three days, which meant bookings in this period outpaced the previous year's year-on-year during the same time period.