Visit Cornwall's chief executive, Malcolm Bell, has urged tourists to not come unless they have booked as Cornwall continues to see a surge in covid cases.

Bell spoke to Julie Skentelbery on BBC Radio Cornwall ahead of the final big bank holiday weekend, and urged visitors not to stay unless they have planned and booked their getaways.

For young people, Malcolm Bell advised to get double jabbed "as soon as possible."

"There are reasons to be cheerful but there's a lot of reasons to be cautious and careful," he commented.

The number of covid cases continues to rise in the Duchy, with Cornwall Council believing the increase is due to a combination of factors including the lifting of national restrictions and the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant.

This is on top of the high number of visitors and the abundance of hospitality venues in tourist destinations such as Falmouth and Newquay where people can mix.

The Council's Public Health team said this week it is expecting Boardmasters to have contributed to the increase in case numbers, particularly amongst young people, but it is too early to tell.

Malcolm Bell continued:

"Don't come if you haven't booked because we know we've got visitors who are frustrated because they haven't been able to get into where they want to go.

"You've got to do some planning this year and you really do have to book and if you haven't done that then please don't come because you won't have a decent experience and you will get frustrated."

"Keep to the rules, stay outdoors, keep your distance, there are measures we can all take, it is an exceptional year caused by this pandemic, this year it is about managing what we can in a free country," Bell added.

Click here to see more from Visit Cornwall.

[H3] See the latest news on our Twitter and Facebook pages. [.H2]