The winding 100-kilometer road from the highway across Canada to Twillingate, NL, is not the route that ordinary tourists usually take. The colorful historic town with a population of 2,000 is known as the "Iceberg Capital of the World" and is a major destination in Newfoundland.

And this is exactly what concerns Deborah Borden, owner of the Anchor Inn hotel, as she watches her business costs rise alongside record fuel prices in recent months. She says, "Newfoundland is an expensive destination." "But Twillingate inside Newfoundland is a more expensive destination and is located at the end of the road."

Borden relies on residents making day trips to make up half of her revenue. After enduring losses in the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many tourism workers in rural Newfoundland hope to make up their losses this summer.

High fuel prices and extra fees have also increased the cost of food delivery, meaning Borden has to make tough decisions about raising menu prices.

She said that the price of canola oil, for example, has tripled, lettuce prices have increased by 30 to 35 percent, and scallops by 25 percent. But passing the full cost increase onto the customer is not feasible in such a price-sensitive market.

In the end, Borden increased menu prices by 10 to 15 percent.

Barry Rogers employs 40 to 50 people at Iceberg Quest Tours in Twillingate and St. John's.

Rogers relies on iceberg and whale sights to fill his tour boats from May to September. He says, "This piece of ice – and others like it – make up 50 percent of the business."

But this year, he will need more tourists to make up the cost of filling the tank on his boat.

When taking into account the jump in diesel prices, extra fuel fees, and taxes, the cost of filling the tank on his tourist boat exceeds $12,000, which is a threefold increase from pre-pandemic times.

To reduce expenses, Rogers is making adjustments to how he manages his tourism business, primarily by reducing the number of daily cruises when the boat is not fully booked.

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair