Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 184 -from this process has been submitted for consideration in a current IRM process in the provinceaddressing resource use in a particular part of the province. A similar initiative in this provincewould be most valuable.BC has an even stronger approach to this, as discussed earlier in Section 4. The tourismindustry’s input is required by law in that province for new resource extraction allocations or fornew highways.Provincial PlanningThere appears to be no active official planning process in place outside of municipalities, whichis problematic for tourism. A case in point is the Humber Valley Resort currently underdevelopment. There is no ‘valley restricted zoning plan’ for Humber Valley that would addresspotentially conflicting activities or development in the area. So clear cutting on crown land canoccur right up to the resort property, and conflicting forms of development could occur nextdoor. This is a serious drawback and obstacle to resort development in particular.Crown lands are being used by residents across the province in a largely unrestricted fashion, forrecreation, camping, hunting and the like. There needs to be some controls in instances wherethis impacts negatively on tourism businesses.Unsightly premises, abandoned vehicles and the like are also problems in some areas.The time has come for the institution of a land use planning process in the province,accompanied by a land use management system that addresses conflicting uses, buffer zones andthe like.Education and AdvocacyThe tourism industry needs to educate itself about the foregoing issue and solutions, and becomea strong advocate of environmental conservation and management. HNL needs to take the leadin this respect.Cultural ConservationConserving the unique aspects of the culture and traditions of the people of the province is animportant objective that needs attention. We need to teach young people about their culture andheritage and train them in traditional skills. Schools need to reintroduce provincial history intotheir curriculum.The College of the North Atlantic should review its hospitality and tourism training programs toensure that they are nurturing traditional cultural features rather than undermining them throughadoption of service standards in use elsewhere. In fact, cultural traditions should be taught insuch programs.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study