Art exhibition will focus on Labrador through the lens
Council is actively pursuing new hotel construction in the town
The Town of Carbonear wants to get into the hotel business.
As such, officials with the town are actively engaging with people in the hospitality industry in hope of luring someone to help reach their accommodation goal.
In the development committee report at Carbonear’s most recent council meeting, Coun. Danielle Doyle made note of the town’s current push to attract new hotel business to the area.
“This has been an ongoing concern of mine for the last number of years,” said Doyle when contacted by Saltwire Network. “Even before my time on council, when I was involved with sports activities.
“The availability of accommodations in Carbonear — and Conception Bay North, in general — is little to none.”
When Fong’s Motel closed last year, it left only the Carbonear Motel, a handful of bed and breakfasts and some Air Bnbs as sources of available accommodation in the town.
Fong’s closure also left the town without a place that could host and house meetings of groups, travelling sports teams or large get-togethers.
“It would be nice for us to have a nice-sized hotel that could accommodate some conferences, small weddings, that kind of stuff,” said Doyle.
There had been a developer expressing interest in building a boutique hotel in the Carbonear area of Crocker’s
Cove. In fact, as recent as 2019, it appeared all that stood in the way of that development was the purchase of property.
However, council has heard little of that project since then.
“With all of the downtown development, you’ve got three new restaurants opening, an awesome coffee shop, we’re doing all kinds of ATV tourism … we’re encouraging people to be active and outside and all of the rest of it, but it’d be nice to encourage people to do all of that and also say, ‘stay here,’” said Doyle.
That missing piece in Carbonear’s tourism and economic development brochure isn’t lost on Mayor Frank Butt.
He said council has always been receptive to the idea of a hotel. Ideally, he’d like to see a 50-room facility.
“We are always looking to have a hotel in Carbonear,” said Butt. “We need it in Carbonear.”
Doyle plans to keep the issue at the forefront while she is on council. The need is such, she said, that Carbonear cannot afford to wait for somebody else to make it happen.
“We have to seek it out,” said Doyle.