CBS hopes to become day trip capital of the Avalon

By Patrick Newhook/January 27, 2022

Conception Bay South is aiming to position itself as the east coast’s number one day trip destination.

The idea was discussed at a virtual tourism workshop, that was held as town’s ‘Tourism Development Plan.’ It was the fifth workshop since the start of the plan back in 2018.

Councilor Christine Butler, who chairs the town’s tourism committee, said the workshop was a success.

“The objective was to understand how visitor experiences, the featured cultural elements, are developed,” said Butler.

The objective is to make CBS the definitive place to go for a day trip on the Avalon.

“We have lots of different things, like businesses, that can attract people to come here for the day,” said Butler. “There are a lot of different one day trips that can easily be done in our town and by all the different people working together we could do this as an itinerary,”

A number of possible itineraries were discussed during the workshop.

Butler said the town’s geography and location near St. John’s makes it a good destination for tourists.

“When they come into Newfoundland, most of them are either coming in by ferry or plane or they’re driving,” said Butler. “We want to capture people. A lot of people think ‘Wel,l what can you do if you’re only in St. John’s for a day or two?’ And this is why we want to do this, because we want to let people know, we’re only 20 minutes away from downtown, a day trip destination for the town of Conception Bay South where you can do so many things.”

Butler said the goal is attract staycationers as well as tourists from outside the province.