These articles appeared in the Cornish Guardian, Nov. 5 (Guy Fawkes' day!), as part of a bumber Eclipse pullout.
Crunching the Numbers
... Concern was expressed at a special meeting of emergency, health, utility and transport services, held in Launceston ...
"Indications are that the many organisations which provide services across the area will be able to cope with no more than the overall design capacity of the town counties.
"This equates to the resident population plus the number of visitors which would completely fill all existing tourism accommodation.".... ...the two counties are now working on a maximum capacity of 2,096,000.
Cornwall's resident population of 488,000 and Devon's of 1,063,000 swell to 760,000 and 1,336,000 if all existing accommodation is full....
hummmnnnn if I do my math right that makes for 272,000 visitors to Cornwall and 273,000 visitors to Devon that they can cope with..... should be interesting! I grew up in Torbay (one of the places in Devon that is going to see the full eclipse) and I know how busy the place gets every year during the tourist season - um, that's pretty busy.... I walked a lot in summer - quicker than car or public transport much of the time!! - Tracey
