Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 170 -condominiums and fractional interest resort offerings, the ‘owners’ are simply financing theresort’s rental accommodations for them, albeit in a mutually beneficial fashion.Future support of resort development in this province should not be constrained by suchpolicy concerns, except perhaps with resort development offering non-rental management realestate, which can be excluded from consideration in supporting the other rental-basedelements of the resort project.Wilderness Lodge Development, Specialty Niche PropertiesWhereas this kind of accommodation development is similar to resort development in termsof ability to generate tourism, albeit on a smaller scale perhaps, these are typically moremodest projects and have more narrowly targeted markets and a shorter market developmentcycle. But they also need to generate their own demand and they entail significant risk aswell.A similar financing approach is warranted for those projects of the character and in locationsthat fit the strategy. In particular, an example would be a lodge in an outstanding outdoorenvironment for non-consumptive adventure activities or for a retreat, such as Gros Morne.Demand Influencing Accommodations DevelopmentAccommodations projects in this category are hybrids between the demand generators and thebasic traveller services accommodations. Those projects meeting the criteria presented earlierwould also be priorities for future development.For these projects, the current Business Development Program provided by ACOA is seen tobe generally appropriate. The fundamental difference in approach recommended would behaving less of a concern with competitive impacts on other properties in the area, in that theywould be helping grow the market and attract new markets, which will benefit the whole area,and incidentally allow others to ‘feed off of’ the new demand by providing an alternate choicefor some.Only projects located in designated destination areas would be supported with capitalfinancing, and proactive efforts would be made to support development in cases where thereare specific areas where the strategy has defined an accommodation opportunity of this sort.Traveller Services Accommodations DevelopmentTraveller services accommodations – motels and hotels, B&Bs - should treated on the basis ofthe demand-supply balance in the area, and supported for capital funding only where there areclear gaps in the quantity or quality of what is in the area. As discussed earlier, the gap wouldneed to be very significant gaps, such that growth in tourism visitation and/or spending isbeing constrained as a direct consequence.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study