CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Growing tourism is at the top of the City of Corner Brook’s agenda for 2020.
Mayor Jim Parsons told The Western Star the city will be looking to grow Corner Brook and the Bay of Islands region into a prime tourist destination by building on work done in previous years, including the findings of the STAR (Strategic Tourism for Areas and Regions) report.
“We will be still working on building product and capacity for our tourism stakeholders, hopefully making our region a top tier player in the province,” he said.
The STAR Report is a tourism plan developed for the Corner Brook/Bay of Islands/Lower Humber Valley region.
It was finished this past year.
The report recommended 31 strategic recommendations and tactics to develop tourism in the area.
Parsons highlighted trail development, branding and downtown revitalization — also mentioned as priorities in the report — as areas he’s hoping to improve in 2020.
He said the council has already started meetings on both motorized and non-motorized trail development and will continue to work on building the region’s branding.
Parsons added they will continue to do city beautification, to ensure the downtown in particular is as appealing as possible to visitors.
While the council and its various partners are currently planning for the upcoming year, Parsons said they’re hoping shovels will be back in the ground in the summer of 2020.
