A welcome development in Corner Brook
City, Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade working to improve visitor information services
With another tourism season approaching, the City of Corner Brook wants to be certain it’s doing all it can to promote the city and the region.
It’s all about collaboration, said Glenda Simms, the city’s tourism coordinator. And that need for teamwork was highlighted in the STAR (Strategic Tourism for Areas and Regions) plan for the Corner Brook, Bay of Islands and Lower Humber Valley region released in 2019.
“There’s so much to do,” said Simms, who assumed her duties not long before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.
One of her initial main focuses was the city’s visitor information centre.
The centre has been operated by the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade since 2011. The city provides the board with an annual operating grant of $22,000 and council recently approved extending it for the 2021 tourism season, which runs from May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022.
Simms said much of what she had been working toward last year didn’t happen because of the pandemic; her goal now is to work with the board to improve the centre and the services offered there.
“We want to keep the visitor information centre up there (on Confederation Drive) because it is obviously very important to have it near the highway for the gateways, but also because it is the only RV dumping station in the city,” said Simms.
As for getting people to the centre, Simms said there will be new wayfinding signs going up on the Lewin Parkway to direct people to the centre.
Improvements inside and outside the building itself — deck painting, flower arrangements, siding update and installing COVID-19 safety measures — will make it more inviting to visitors.
The centre is staffed by students. COVID-19 restrictions that led to a late start, limited access to the centre and less funding from the province meant only two instead of the usual six staff members were hired in 2020.
Simms would like to see more students hired this year and is working with the board, with the aim of relocating some of them to staff a pop-up visitor information booth at the Man in the Mountain site off Riverside Drive, and possibly at a location downtown.
She’s also going to have a couple of students who will monitor social media sites to answer questions related to the region and to ensure the information on tourism websites is up to date.
In terms of information offered, Simms said there are plans to make Corner Brook the focal point for visitors to the centre.
“We want them to take advantage of what we have to offer in the city,” she said, but added information provided not only needs to accurately portray Corner Brook, but the north and south shores of the Bay of Islands as well as other areas of the Humber Valley.
There’s a plan to put together infotrmation and suggested-activity packages, and Simms is also working on itineraries that will help keep visitors in the area for a few days or more and can be tailored to suit particular needs, whether it is for families with children or adults who are into adventure tourism.
She’s is also looking at information local hotels place in guest rooms.
“So, I can create one visitorinformation type of go-to book for the visitor centre students,” she said.
Keith Goulding, president of the Greater Corner Brook Board of Trade, said the board has been looking for guidance and support from the city to make the visitor information centre is a contributing factor in the business community throughout western Newfoundland.
Goulding said tourism is going to be a driving force of the economy in the region, but that the area needs to do a better job at collectively promoting itself.
As such, he’s pleased to see the city take an interest and says having Simms, who brings energy and enthusiasm to her job, is a step in the right direction.
He’s had tourism-related conversations with Simms and board staff; he likes the ideas that have come out of those discussions and the fact ideas that have been generated are being implemented.
“We want to see the space more utilized to present tourists with the options for tourism opportunities in the Bay of Islands area and in the greater Humber Valley area,” he said, noting the tour packages and things-to-do material can help accomplish that.
“That gives them information about what to do here instead of what to do elsewhere in Newfoundland,” he said.