Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 237 -Section 14Avalon RegionOverviewHome to the province’s primary air gateway and the secondary ferry gateway, the AvalonRegion provides a mix of urban, coastal and rural experiences to travellers. St. John’s is anincreasingly successful city destination for business, and meeting, convention and incentivetravellers as well as for pleasure/vacation travellers. The city provides varied dining,shopping, entertainment, attractions and accommodations within a unique heritage andcultural environment. And, within an easy drive, other parts of the Avalon offer outstandingcoastal vistas, watchable wildlife – both on land and sea, hiking and sea kayaking, specialplaces such as Mistaken Point, Cape St. Mary’s and Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserves andheritage attractions such as the Colony of Avalon and Castle Hill and Cape Spear NationalHistoric Sites.The Avalon enjoys the strongest tourism visitation of the province, and, in the St. John’s areaat least, it continues from late spring through to mid-October with an ongoing corporate andspecial event market throughout the rest of the year. The St. John’s resident market providesa large year round market for tourism businesses, and are an important market for manytourism businesses across the province, particularly in the Avalon and Eastern regions.Areas of the Avalon outside of St. John’s enjoy the benefits of the relatively large number ofvisitors to the city, but also suffer from their proximity to St. John’s. As a result, much of thetourism activity in other parts of the region is day trips, with visitors using St. John’s as a baseand taking several day trips to explore areas such as the Irish Loop, Cape Shore and theBaccalieu Trail. The very limited amount of character, demand-influencing styleaccommodation outside St. John’s is, in part, a factor in these travel patterns – the propertiesof this character outside of the city appear to do very well, suggesting a market of visitorswho prefer to stay outside the urban area but still seek quality accommodations.Accommodation Supply andDemandSupply° The Avalon region has some140 accommodation propertieswith over 2,300 units. Almost80% of the units are found inhotels although 40% of theproperties are of the B&B typeand another 22% are B&B/Innstyle facilities.100%90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%Supply of Accommodations in Avalon Region: % of Total78%40%19%18%22%7%8%7%Hotel/Motel B&B Cottages B&B/InnProp'ts UnitsTHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study