Our seaside town is being invaded by billionaires & superyachts…we want them gone because of stingy behaviour
RESIDENTS of a beautiful seaside town have blasted billionaires bringing superyachts for invading their home.
Eight huge passenger boats – carrying around 10,000 tourists – have moored in Falmouth, Cornwall, which has a population of 22,300, in just over a week.
It’s seen the picturesque town inundated with giant cruise ships and private mega yachts.
This includes a stunning 258 ft luxury yacht Rocinante which is worth £80 million and owned by American billionaire games developer Gabe Newell.
But some disgruntled locals are not happy with the changes and have slammed the new arrivals for stingy behaviour.
The sudden surge has sparked anger online with commenters claiming the ships offered little economic benefit to the town while the ships huge diesel engines took an environmental toll on the local area.
Edith Fasching said: ”It’s such a pity to let those ships near the lovely Cornwall coast. Other harbours try to get rid of them.
“The passengers spend no noteworthy money, they consume everything in the ship. It’s just a huge environmental burden.”
While Christopher Onions added: “The reality is – as Venice and other cruise ship destination ports will tell you – that because most cruise ship passengers are on ‘everything paid for tickets’ they get all of their food and drink on board and spend relatively little when they go ashore.
“Let’s not fool ourselves about the overall effects of these boats on the economy – minimal at best – or the costs of their being there, not least on the environment.”
However, some locals in Falmouth said they see cruise ships coming here as a positive for the town.
Former university worker Molly Burnley, 67, whose home overlooks the harbour says she loves watching the giant cruise ships and private yachts come and go and says they provide surprising economic benefits.
She said: “On days when the ships are in ordinary businesses like hairdressers are full to the brim with customers. Ships will generally only have one hairdresser who obviously can’t serve 6,000 people so lots of people use the shore days to get a haircut.
“I’ve done some voluntary work at the Job Centre and one of the best success stories was somebody who was out of work so started offering bespoke cleaning services for the super yachts. He was so successful he hired eight more people.
“The people who come in on private yachts spend lots of money here, sometimes thousands of pounds per day.
“I can see the boats from my house and I like it, it gives you something different to look at.”
Heather and Roger King have lived in Falmouth for 25 years and say the cruise passengers are far more welcome than the more than 5,000 students also arriving as the town’s university term begins.
Mr King said: “Cruise ship guests never cause any trouble unlike students who create endless problems in the town by damaging cars and making noise.
“I don’t know how many of them really spend time in Falmouth, they get shuttled onto coaches then they are straight off up to the Eden Project or similar attractions.”
Mrs King said: “You can definitely notice people walking a bit slowly through town but Falmouth people are just as capable of doing that so I wouldn’t blame the tourists entirely.”
The recent surge in cruise ships started with two giants – Island Princess on Saturday September 9 and MSC Fantasia on Sunday September 10.
Both were too big to come into the docks and instead anchored in the bay, ferrying some 5,000 passengers between them.
But with Le Champlain being the smallest cruise ship to arrive in Falmouth this year, only a handful of cruise passengers were taking advantage of the regular shuttle bus service between the docks and the town centre.
Rory Lamb, 39, co-owner of three Falmouth bars and restaurants, says he believes cruise ships provide a small boost for local hospitality.
He said: “Cruise ships landing here are brilliant for the town in some respects. Obviously the people who come into town will spend money here.
“I know we get some trade from them but I wouldn’t say it has a massive effect on us.
“I am not surprised that cruise ships are coming here, I genuinely think Falmouth is one of the best places in the world because of the fantastic shoreline, it’s got a great choice of water activities and a range of independent business on offer.
“It is also a really foodie town as you would expect being by the shoreline.”
Tourist Joanne Johnson, 62, from Cheshire has been visiting Cornwall three times a year for the past 19 years.
She said: “Falmouth is so well maintained and managed that having thousands of extra people here isn’t really a problem. It’s always clean and the streets are well looked after.
“It definitely gets crowded in the summer but we always try to avoid that time of year. We haven’t noticed it being particularly crowded while we have been here.”