Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 138 -Section 7Strengthening and Building on Destination AreasCommunities play several vital roles in tourism, as en route overnight stops, traveller servicecentres, hubs for day tripping/touring, gateways to travel regions and destinations in their ownright. The strategy discussed here is to focus on those communities and destination areas havinga mix of visitor appeals such that they warrant being promoted as regional destinations worthy ofa visit on their own merits. In the next section we will address strategies dealing with the otherrole communities play as traveller service centres or hubs.Three Tiers and Three Strategic Approaches, and Some SleepersThere are several ‘tiers’ of regional destination communities/areas, as listed below. In this case,it is the overall mix of available activities, attractions, accommodations, shopping, dining, andthe like that create the destination appeal:1. Those that already meet the standard of ‘having a mix of visitor appeals such that theywarrant being promoted as regional destinations worthy of a visit on their own merits’,2. Those that are part way there, and3. Others that have latent potential, and are longer-term possibilitiesDifferent levels of priority are proposed for each tier, with tiers 1 and 2 receiving the greatestlevel of attention and tier 3 somewhat less. The idea is to build on strength, recognizing thatsuccess in a competitive marketplace is built on strength, not need. That is not to ignore latentand developing destination areas, not at all, it is simply to acknowledge that there is more to begained by focussing priority attention on what can deliver the greatest results in the short andmedium term with the least amount of effort and expense. Other destination areas need to beseen as longer term initiatives.How this prioritization approach fits with community economic development efforts is a matterthat needs to be resolved, as it is not naturally evident how these seemingly contradictoryapproaches can complement each other. This is dealt with later in this section.The determination of which tier a community or destination area falls into needs to bedetermined on the basis of how well each community/destination area rates in terms of a set ofcriteria. We have established the following kinds of criteria in this regard:o A location near an established major attraction and/or destination area, and/or on anestablished touring route and reasonably accessibleo Close to provincial entry points and/or major touring routeso The size of the tourism market in the area and immediately nearby (for example, the IrishLoop area which is close to St. John’s would score well in this respect)o Features that reflect the unique appeals and character of Newfoundland and LabradorTHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study