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Cornwall holiday home owners told not to take Christmas bubble bookings from people in Tier 3

Ziggy the 14-week-old toy poodle joins Claire Gallimore and Ben Attenborough as they eat their socially distanced breakfast from beach huts after staying overnight in accommodation for the first time since lockdown at St Moritz hotel, Cornwall, as the lifting of further lockdown restrictions in England comes into effect.
Cornwall is the only place on the English mainland to be under Tier 1 restrictions. (PA)

Holiday home owners in Cornwall have been told not to take Christmas bubble bookings from people in Tier 3 areas.

Visit Cornwall has advised the county’s holiday lettings industry not to rent properties to those from the highest coronavirus alert level.

People across the UK are able to form Christmas bubbles of up to three households between 23 and 27 December (22 and 28 December in Northern Ireland).

The tourist board in Cornwall, which will be under Tier 1 restrictions when lockdown eases, said it has told cottages and hotels not to take bookings from people in Tier 3 areas.

Watch: Which areas are in Tiers 1, 2 and 3?

MPs will vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday on the government’s plan to take England back into the three-tiered system after the second national lockdown ends on Wednesday.

Despite suggestions of a Tory rebellion against the move, the measures are expected to be reintroduced as both Labour and the SNP plan to abstain from the vote.

Under the plans, only three areas of England – Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly – will be in the lowest alert level of Tier 1.

Read more

The Tier 3 COVID lockdown rules explained

The Tier 2 COVID lockdown rules explained

What tier are you in? Full list of lockdown areas

On Tuesday, Visit Cornwall said holiday home owners are contacting Tier 3 customers to tell them not to travel from Wednesday onwards, in line with the incoming government guidelines, and offering them a rescheduled booking or refund instead.

People booked to travel to Cornwall from Tier 2 areas will be welcomed but must follow the government guidelines of not staying with another household, Visit Cornwall said.

Even though people are permitted to form Christmas bubbles of up to three families, the tourist board said it didn’t want groups from Tier 3 areas travelling to Cornwall over the festive period to do so.

“We have advised companies not to book people from Tier 3 over Christmas but it’s their decision,” Malcolm Bell, chief executive at Visit Cornwall, told Yahoo News UK on Tuesday.

Referring to the planned tiered restrictions from 2 December, he said: “People in Tier 3 should not be coming on holiday unless it’s for one of the exceptions.

“Many hotels are contacting people in Tier 3 and telling them to cancel and offering them a rebooking or a refund.

“People with bookings from Tier 3 areas will be contacted and told not to come and asked if they wouldn’t mind rescheduling.

ROCK, ENGLAND - JULY 12: Holiday makers on the Padstow-Rock ferry on July 12, 2020 in Rock, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The UK government announced that Pubs, Hotels and Restaurants could open from Saturday, July 4th providing they follow guidelines on social distancing and sanitising. (Photo By Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)
Visitors to Cornwall wearing face masks on the Padstow-Rock ferry during the summer. (Getty Images)

“People from Tier 2 areas are welcome to come but they must follow the rules – two households can’t share a cottage.”

On Monday, there were 26 new cases of coronavirus reported in Cornwall.

Bell said: “We’ve got very good at staying COVID-safe. We had 2 million visitors between July and September.

“We have the lowest rate in the country but that doesn’t mean the virus isn’t here.”

In October, Visit Cornwall and Cornwall Council instructed holiday home owners to refuse bookings from Tier 3 tourists during the half-term break.

Watch: How England's three-tier COVID system works

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