Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 36 -A few participants reported some negative experiences with regards to their lodging mostlyaround small rooms and bathrooms and poor reservations systems. Generally,accommodations were seen to represent good or excellent value for money although a coupleof locations were mentioned as being overpriced.Several participants indicated that they had had difficulty finding the type of accommodationthey were seeking in specific areas, particularly on short notice, i.e. if they decided theywanted to stay three nights instead of the one that was booked or stay in a community wherethey had not planned to. Areas mentioned included St. John’s (the issue here was finding aroom at the right price), and parts of the Northern Peninsula including the Gros Morne area.They strongly recommended advance reservations and also indicated that a centralaccommodation booking system would be most helpful.Visitors selected their accommodations through a combination of the travel guide and theInternet – using the travel guide to identify properties and then checking them out on theInternet. Word of mouth and referrals from other travellers was also important. Star guideratings were used as a guideline and generally people felt that the ratings reflected theproperties.Consumers – Quantitative ResearchAlmost 800 interviews conducted as part of the province’s ongoing 2003/04 Exit Surveyresearch included questions related to accommodation expectations and experiences in theprovince. The detailed tables are provided in the Technical Appendices Report 4 .Overall, these preliminary results indicate that respondents were very satisfied with theirexperience at accommodations in the province, and that the accommodations met theirexpectations.In terms of general elements related to accommodations, all factors received a mean score of8 out of 10 or higher, with the overall experience being rated 8.8 and 37% of respondentsindicating they were extremely satisfied. When examined by key visitor origins, there weresome minor differences with visitors from Other Canada (outside the Maritimes and Ontario)markets slightly less likely to indicate that some of the key features exceeded theirexpectations. Generally, however, visitors from all origins gave similar ratings to thesegeneral elements.4Note: This data is preliminary and unweighted; it is a sample of non-resident visitors who indicated awillingness to participate in follow-up research and includes only those who responded to the telephoneand on-line portion of the follow-up survey. It is not known at this time how representative this sampleis of all non-resident visitors since the 12 month exit survey program currently underway is not yetcomplete.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study