Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 128-to be purchased. But having professional tour operators involved in advising operators willassist enormously in avoiding that kind of problem here.)These packages would be marketed in the same fashion and in conjunction with the suggesteditineraries as part of the DMO’s marketing. They would be booked directly with the tourismoperator offering the package, or potentially by others on a commission basis. (However, thislatter option is more complicated and perhaps should be deferred to the future, as it involves areservations program, payment/collection of commissions, the use of vouchers, etc.)Local tourism industry associations, municipalities and RED Boards could also play a facilitationrole with the foregoing, providing information and organizing the tourism operators toparticipate.Beyond suggested itineraries and the short tourism supplier packages, more extensive packagesand tours could also be developed where appropriate, which would be marketed by both theDMOs and the tour operators, and operated by the tour operator under agreements with therelevant DMOs. Our research with tour operators has provided the following ideas:o More FIT packages and special interest group programso Different group tour programs designed for one week or less, concentrating on one or tworegions of the provinceo Packages based on day tripping from regional hub communitiesThe costs of the consulting/advisory/planning services from the tour operators would becompensated on a fee basis through agreements with the various DMOs, from funding providedto the DMOs. For the more extensive packages and tours, the tour operator would presumablyoperate these on a revenue basis, with the DMO support limited to inclusion of the products inthe DMO’s marketing. In fact, bookings made through the DMO on such products could becommissionable to the DMO.Newfoundland and Labrador has a number of tour operators based in the province who providepackaged holidays of various kinds. Major ones offering a mix of group and FIT products whomight be considered for the foregoing include:o Maxxim Vacationso McCarthy’s Partyo Wildland Learning Vacationso Vision the Atlantic Canada Co.FIT PackagesThe ‘fully independent travel’ (FIT) package market is growing steadily in North America,outstripping group travel in many cases as more people today prefer the flexibility ofindependent travel. However, in Newfoundland and Labrador, this has not progressed nearly asfar as it should in this marketplace. The problems include:THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study