CORNER BROOK Dave LeDrew thinks Corner Brook needs to do a better job at giving tourists a memorable experience when they come to Corner Brook.
The city businessman said not going the extra mile to accommodate a visitor and to make them feel more welcome than they expected to could cost the area repeat visits or, more importantly, slow down the word of mouth praise that could be engendered.
The owner of the Newfoundland Emporium said the fact Corner Brook will only welcome five cruise ships to port this year may be a sign that the job is not being done well enough.
There are a dozen cruise ships slated to make calls to the port of Corner Brook in 2012.
“I understand some of the geographic and economic reasons why from the cruise line’s point of view,” said LeDrew. “But, when a boat comes in, we should be doing everything we can to make it a good experience so they come back again.
“If 1,000 people get back on the ship and say what a great time they had in Corner Brook, that affects where the cruise line goes because they want their people to have a good time.”
LeDrew thinks some of the money the Corner Brook Port Corporation has invested in fixing up old buildings on the waterfront may have been better spent on sprucing up the infrastructure and services on the other end of the waterfront where cruise ships dock.
Passengers taking in onshore excursions, he said, have to walk through an unpaved, and sometimes muddy, lot to access buses. Those buses sometimes break down during their tours and many have subpar PA systems for the tour guides to use. A bit of pavement and some brand new, good quality PA systems would be wise investments, said LeDrew.
“They are pulling in here to an industrial site,” he added. “I understand that, but they could still soften it up a bit with some other stuff, like an indoor waiting space with washrooms.”
The port corporation had hoped a tenant would establish a restaurant in the refurbished R.A. Pollett Building. That wouldn’t be an attraction to cruise ship tourists, according to LeDrew, since they have fine dining aboard their ships and have usually paid for all their meals as part of their overall cruise package.
“They might have a snack or something when they come ashore, but that’s about it,” he said. “Corner Brook used to be a lumberjack town, so maybe we should try something different along those lines to entice people, kind of like the Viking feast thing they do in L’Anse aux Meadows.
“I just don’t see the effort going into it that there should be.”
He even went so far as suggesting members of city council should be made to go on an ocean cruise, at the taxpayers’ expense if need be, so they can better appreciate what it is cruise ship passengers want to see and do when they visit a port.
LeDrew brought up some of his concerns when the Corner Brook Port Corporation held its annual general meeting in May. The corporation agreed it has some infrastructure issues when it comes to accommodating cruise traffic, but said it also has to generate more activity before major investments can be justified.
It’s not just cruise ship traffic that LeDrew wants to see more of in Corner Brook. The fact so many motoring tourists tend to bypass Corner Brook has long been a beef of his.
He believes a tourist chalet with a more prominent presence on the Trans-Canada Highway would help direct traffic into the city.
“We have a store in Halifax and when we know someone is on their way to Newfoundland, we give them directions to Corner Brook and how to get to our store here,” said LeDrew. “When we see them again and ask them if they went to Corner Brook, they always say they just took a picture of Corner Brook from the highway.”
