Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 168 -somewhere in between, but closer to the latter with which they compete more directly,perhaps 5 years.Not only are the market development cycles longer for demand generating/influencingproperties, they also confront a much large marketing challenge, in money and effort, andthey also have a greater reliance on travel intermediaries such as tour operators, meetingplanners and the like. So, the level of investment in market development is greater as well.Taken together, these factors make demand generating/influencing property development ariskier and more expensive undertaking as compared to other types of accommodationsdevelopment. But, considering their impact in growing tourism, they are extremely valuableprojects.It is also vitally important to ensure that the necessary critical mass of capacity and amenitiesare in place for a project to achieve the desired demand generating/influencing outcome.Multi-Season Resort DevelopmentNewfoundland and Labrador lacks a true multi-season resort, although the new HumberValley development looks like it might become one. Terra Nova Lodge and a few otherproperties have some of the characteristics but they are small and modest by comparison totrue destination resorts.It remains to be seen whether new resort development will be viable for the province. What isclear is that the absence of such development to date suggests that this market is totallyundeveloped in the province, which is true, and that there needs to be greater incentivesinvolved than are in place today to support resort development given the major marketdevelopment challenge associated with it.In fact, such projects need to be approached with a different model for support. Multi-seasonresort development needs to be approached something like infrastructure, with ‘soft’financing and non-repayable contributions to help the project through the lengthy and costlymarket development cycle, and to help offset the non-commercial amenity elements of aproject. The approach should be not unlike that available to not-for-profit groups andcommunities, where non-repayable contributions are used. Examples of what is proposed insupport of resort development include:o Funding for planning and feasibilityo Non-repayable contributions to assist market development and marketing in the earlyyearso Non-repayable contributions for resort infrastructure and recreational amenitieso Facilities financing, with high leverage on the proponent’s contribution, includingequity (such as preferred shares), as well as the repayable, interest-free loans currentlyprovided under the Business Development Program, of more than 50% wherenecessaryo Long term payback on repayable portions (10 years +)THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study