Workers on the Terra Nova FPSO maintenance in the Marystown shipyard are filling up hotels and motels on the Burin Peninsula, but their need for accommodations is causing problems for local tourism businesses.

Hundreds of workers have been hired for the FPSO job, but many are from outside the area, and they are staying at places all over the Burin Peninsula where tourists would usually make reservations at this time of year.

Berni Stapleton says her theatre festival has empty seats this summer. (CBC )

Berni Stapleton, artistic director of the Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival, said bookings for performances at her theatre festival have been coming in, but cancellations follow soon after when theatregoers discover there is no where for them to stay.

"It's heartbreaking, really, to think that we have empty seats in the theater every single night and we know we have patrons who want desperately to come," said Stapleton.

"We're in such a precarious industry anyway and we take it so seriously. We hire between 40 and 50 souls every year," said Stapleton. "We give them significant employment and so it feels like we carry a lot of worry because we can plan for so many things but we can't plan for this."

Tourists may stay away, worries hotel owner

Colleen King, the owner of the Thorndyke Hotel in Grand Bank, has also been raising concerns. She said she's had to turn potential guests away on busy weekends.

"What I worry about is that if people can't find anywhere to stay on the Burin Peninsula, then they're going to stop coming," said King. "And they're going to tell people, 'well, don't bother coming to the Burin Peninsula because you can't get anywhere to stay.'"

The Marystown shipyard has been scheduled to be busy until sometime during the summer of 2013.

Tourism operators hope to get the attention of government and the company doing the FPSO work so they can work together to find solutions to avoid the accommodation crunch next summer.