Visit Cornwall dispel ‘mischievous’ reports of anti-Englishness
Visit Cornwall chief Malcolm Bell has moved to dispel what he considers to be “mischievous” reports of his agency’s bid to expunge the word ‘England’ from PR material headed for domestic consumption.
In a statement Bell wrote: “It is disappointing that the some of the media have not fully reported my position and that others are being a bit mischievous by adding to the story. The guidance given to staff is totally focussed on marketing advantage and not in any way does it have any political, isolationist, let alone ‘anti English’ angle or intent.
“We are certainly not denying being part of England or a County, or banning the use of them. The use of Duchy would be used very rarely and certainly not in place of County. In overseas marketing we always have, and will continue to include England, as that makes perfect and very logical sense.
“However, in the UK market (which makes up 95% of our customers) being distinctive and different is a real strength and with Cornwall having a strong and distinctive history, heritage and Celtic, as well as contemporary culture, we would be mad not to feature them.
“All we are doing is emphasising our difference based on the results of our visitor survey in 2011 where 76% of our visitors were aware of the Cornish language and 67% thought that was a “positive thing”. Of those aware of the Cornish language 33% were interested in learning a few simple Cornish words.
“Likewise, 58% were aware of our local Celtic culture and of those 69% were interested in finding out more about it.
“I hope you will see that from a marketing perspective this is a strength we should build upon and that was the reason to tweak our messaging to build on Cornish distinctiveness.”