Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 172 -Consideration should be given to contracting the services of outside professionals to assist ineach of these areas and to provide an advisory resource to ACOA and other governmentagency officials dealing with accommodations projects and funding applications.Similar forms of support would be provided to other types of tourism products, albeit inappropriately modified forms.Quality Assurance and LicensingAs discussed elsewhere, we are proposing the establishment by HNL of a new ‘QualityAssurance Council’ in the province. It would assume responsibility for administering theCanada Select and Camping Select programs, taking over that role from the current groupsadministering these initiatives. We believe it to be much better to manage these programsunder an industry-wide industry model, rather than by the tourism operators whose businessesare directly involved in the program. This improves the strategic focus of their direction andreduces the possibility of conflict of interest issues.The council would also take over the administration of the accommodations licensingprogram under contract with DTCR. Licensing enforcement would be taken over by theDepartment of Government Services. Obviously there will need to be funding put in place todeal with the foregoing.Canada SelectThe Canada Select Accommodation Rating program has served Newfoundland andLabrador’s accommodation sector well and has led to a general improvement in the standardof accommodations across the province. The standards of the program have been very helpfulto business people and to development agencies in their planning.The program is currently being reviewed nationally. A number of specific issues andconsiderations relative to Canada Select, arising from our review of accommodations in theprovince and from extensive interviews with operators and others in the industry, is providedin the appendix.One of the key recommendations of that paper is that inspections be on an unscheduled basis,with the rating advisors being empowered to enter and inspect the premises upon arrival,subject only to reasonable restrictions based on rooms being occupied by guests.We have a general concern, based on the outcomes of our field research that the CanadaSelect program is not being delivered in the province in a consistent fashion in keeping withits intent. We therefore recommend that an early priority for the recommended new councilbe a review of the program’s delivery in the province.A related concern is the practice of rating advisors in coaching accommodation operators onhow to get their star grade up without consideration of market conditions in the area. Thisreinforces the ‘race for the stars’ concept, which was never contemplated for Canada Select.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study