Second Homes and the (Re)production of Cornish Nationalism.

Abstract

The growth of second-home ownership and short-term holiday lettings has intensified housing inequality in regions with high tourism pressure, prompting localized opposition and raising questions about identity, belonging, and economic justice. This study investigates how attitudes toward second homes and tourism intersect with ethnic identity in Cornwall, one of the poorest regions in Western Europe, characterized by high levels of second-home ownership and long-standing economic marginalization. An online survey conducted in 2023 (n = 504) gathered responses to 13 attitudinal items, alongside demographic data on age, income, ethnicity/identity, and employment type. Exploratory factor analysis with Promax rotation identified four underlying dimensions of opinion which explained 57.9% of the total variance, and Kruskal-Wallis tests assessed differences in factor scores across demographic groups. The analysis found that younger, lower-income, and Cornish-identifying respondents were more likely to express opposition to second-home ownership and short-term holiday lets, particularly in relation to issues about affordability, community cohesion, and local control. Older and more affluent British/English-identifying respondents expressed more positive views about tourism and second homes. Age and ethnicity had the strongest effect, indicating that attitudes are shaped by generational experiences of economic insecurity and by identity, signaling a broader, materially grounded form of regionalism embedded in wider structures of inequality and political exclusion.