Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 120-A Centre of Excellence for Cultural and Heritage Tourismo The College of the North Atlantic has proposed a Cultural and Heritage Tourism Centreof Excellence in Bonavista. It was proposed to offer training programs and workshops oncultural and heritage tourism for organizations across the province and in Atlantic Canadagenerally, similar to what the GMIST program is going to do for outdoor tourism andsustainable tourism.o If a project of this type were to be able to deliver training and outreach programs on thetopics listed above, it would have real merit.o We recommend that, rather than pursuing this through the College of the North Atlanticalone, this initiative should be pursued with Hospitality Newfoundland and Labradorplaying a lead role in strategizing and coordinating the approach. If such an initiative isto proceed, it should involve appropriate collaborations with the other players as wellsuch as the MUN Folklore program and the GMIST centre. There needs to be aconceptual plan developed for the concept along with a feasibility study andimplementation strategy. This initiative should be led by HNL.o In addition to its obvious benefits to the cultural heritage tourism community of interests,it would help build credibility for the province’s leadership in this field.Need for a New Funding and Operational Model to Support Cultural and HeritagePrograms, as Well as Natural History ProgramsCultural and heritage tourism programs, and natural history attractions as well for that matter, aregenerally not self-sustaining from revenues. It is the rare program that has commercial character,even those that have large markets at their doorstep. These things simply don’t fund themselves.This is why most of them are operated by governments, and on a deficit basis. (A survey ofmajor heritage attractions operated by governments in Canada indicated that the most successfulof them in terms of revenue generation were able to cover less than 50% of their operating costs.Some cover as little as 5% of costs from revenues.) These things are simply expensive tomaintain and operate, and the revenue potential from admission fees and other source are verymodest.This is also why those that are operated outside of government by not-for-profit organizationshave fundraising programs of various kinds to supplement their small revenue base.So funding them requires attention to both capital requirements as well as ongoing operations.Providing a one-time grant to build a venue and then hoping for the best doesn’t work. A betterapproach is to develop a mechanism to support projects of merit that also meet a high standard.For this we propose the establishment of a new agency in the province, which will be discussedshortly below. This agency would support not-for-profit programs as well as similar programsoperated by for-profit companies as long as they fit the eligibility criteria. It could alsopotentially support government-operated facilities and programs as well.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study