Cornwall County is believed to be one of the poorest areas of the United Kingdom. The Gross Value Added, GVA, per head was calculated at 65 of the great UK s average in 2004. Same for Cornwall and the Scillies GDP per head was 79.2 of the total EU 27 on average in 2004, where as the UK per head average stood at 123.
Tin mining was very significant in the Cornish economic structure. The tin trade was on a revival path during the Middle Ages and related to tin miners is the Cornish Rebellion of 1497. Still, the tin trade again nose dived in the mid nineteenth century.
One of four UK areas, Cornwall has succeeded for poverty related grants from the European Union (EU). It gained Objective 1 position according to European Commission and followed by another round of funding, better known as Convergence Funding.
These days, Cornish economy depends severely on its very successful tourism, which earns up to around one fourth of the total Cornish economy. The official calculations of poverty and adversity at district and sub ward level have shown that there is great difference between poverty and prosperity.
With some areas which are among the poorest in Britain while others belong to the top half in prosperity and progress. e.g., the ranking of these 32,482 sub wards in Britain in the list of multiple deprived varies from 819th part of East Penzance to 30, 899th part of Saltash Burraton which is in Caradon, where most disadvantages are represented by the lower number.
Cornwall s distinctive culture, with spectacular landscapes and mild weather makes it a very popular tourist spot, in spite of being a little away from the Great United Kingdom s major tourist spots. Surrounding it from three sides are the Celtic Sea and English Channel, Cornwall has many miles of cliffs and beaches.
Several other tourist places that mesmerize include wooded valleys, country gardens and moorland. Millions of tourists pay visits to Cornwall each year, where mostly are drawn from within the Great United Kingdom. Visitors can opt for many services by airports at Plymouth and Newquay, where as charters helicopters and private jets, are also available and served by Perranporth airfield. Daily night sleepers and rail services are often driven between London, Cornwall and other areas of the UK.
Porthtowan and Newquay are very popular tourist centers for surfers. Recently, the Eden Project which is located near St Austell has shown an important financial success, it means that it draws one in every eight visitors of Cornwall.
Another industry that is popular is fishing, in spite of the fact this has not been significantly renovated by EU fishing strategies, the Southwest Handline Fisherman s Association have started to rejuvenate this fishing industry along with agriculture, which had also nose dived quite significantly.
Native cakes and desserts are delicacies such as Cornish fairings biscuits, Cornish heavy (hevva) cake, Saffron cake, scones often served with jam and clotted cream, figgy obbin, and whortleberry pie. Many types of beers are also brewed in Cornwall such as Sharp s Brewery and St Austell Brewery which are the best and that includes ales, stouts and several other types of beer. There is also some small scale production of cider, wine and mead.