Expectations high for Canada 150
The final bell will echo through the hallways of schools throughout the province soon enough.
Boys and girls will be free to throw back and enjoy a break from the daily grind of English, science and mathematics with their minds set on having fun with their friends and checking out the sights and sounds of summer.
It’s a time when families plan to get away and get the most out of the short summer season known to Newfoundlanders.
Children laughing and playing outside of the schoolyard coincides with the start of the tourism season in this neck of the woods.
The Star talked to a number of players in the tourism industry to get their thoughts on what they expect to see this year as Canada celebrates its 150th birthday.
Lloyd Hollett, Newfoundland Insectarium What do you see as the tourism potential for the area this summer?
“I think the potential is really big this summer with the way the Canadian dollar is, the 150th anniversary (of Canada) and the parks being free. Plus, the fact for Canadians it’s expensive to go south to the United States for a holiday, so a lot of Canadians are staying home. So I think we’re going to have a banner year, actually.”
What tourist destinations in the area do you think will be the hidden gems this year?
“I don’t know what would be the hidden gems because most things that are in the area people really know. Everybody is going to Gros Morne and people going to L’anse aux Meadows, and that sort of thing, but I can’t think of anything that people don’t know about that might be discovered. There’s nothing that pops in my mind.”
Shawn Shears, Gros Morne KOA Campground
What do you see as the tourism potential for the area this summer?
“For this summer it looks like reservations for the campground, anyway, are certainly on par with last year, if not up a small bit. In saying that, for us personally, we see a lot of Newfoundland traffic so, of course, the weather is going to be a very important part of that as well. But all indications right now suggest it should be a decent summer.”
What tourist destinations in the area do you think will be the hidden gems this year?
“That’s a good question. All the traffic that we see coming through here, I have to say, probably one of the most popular things on their list to do would be the Western Brook Pond Tour, for sure. Another one, not directly in this area, but from now until the icebergs are no longer being seen, St. Anthony is certainly a destination for a lot of people as well. Once the icebergs are gone away, of course, that changes to some degree, but still L’anse aux Meadows is a big drawing card for that region.”
Barb Mercer, Crystal Waters Boat Tours What do you see as the tourism potential for the area this summer?
“I think we’re shaping up to have a really busy summer. We’re getting lots of calls early in the season with the Canada 150 celebrations coming on. That seems to have made it busier. We do things different with our boat tours now. We kind of switched it around and we have music nights on Wednesdays and Fridays. We do Newfie kitchen parties and we do fishing tours in the morning. We’re able to go at any time.”
What tourist destinations in the area do you think will be the hidden gems this year?
“Woods Island is going to be really popular. People absolutely love the resettled island thing. A lot of people are coming home for different Come Home Years, like Mcivers, for instance. So we’ve come on board with them and have given out brochures to all the people coming home. They come back home and we do a boat tour near their area, so go out the bay. A lot of people from Corner Brook, believe it or not, have never gone out the bay and seen Corner Brook from the water or Irishtown or Halfway Point. And the ones who have, they’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is absolutely beautiful.’”