Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 187 -o Brochure and other marketing materials, local guides, theme guides (eg: trailguides)6. Marketing partnerships and networks in place – with destination marketingorganizations (DMOs), tour operators, receptive operators, along with appropriatepolicies and practices for doing business with each of them7. The right pricing:o A value approach, with prices set so as to cover costs and make a profit, ratherthan to simply match or underbid the competitiono Some form of ‘revenue management’ program to maximize revenues in eachseasonAchieving these standards of market readiness requires initiatives on a number of fronts asdescribed below.Standards and Quality AssuranceWe recommend the establishment of a new Quality Assurance Council in the province. HNLas the lead agency for professional development programs in the province should undertake toestablish this Quality Assurance Council and support its operations, in collaboration with thenew tourism development agency. The Council would become responsible for Canada Select,Camping Select and the new ‘Made in Newfoundland and Labrador’ award programdescribed below. Also, as mentioned previously, the Council would also take over theadministration of the accommodations licensing program under contract with DTCR.Licensing enforcement would be taken over by the Department of Government Services.Obviously there will need to be funding put in place to deal with the foregoing.The Canada Select program is well established in Newfoundland and Labrador andrecommendations for the program have already been provided earlier in this report. TheCamping Select program has recently been introduced and participation is currentlyvoluntary, although we understand that it is proposed that it become mandatory either when acertain proportion of campgrounds are participating or within a defined time limit. We wouldsupport efforts to make this program mandatory and recommend that provincial, federal andmunicipal camping facilities be required to participate as well, if this is not already theintention.However, both the Canada Select and the Camping Select programs are inventory basedprograms, that is they address only the facilities and services provided they do not address theoverall quality of service or the quality of the experience provided. It is evident from ourconsumer research that the overall quality of the experience is what ‘makes’ the visit to theprovince, and visitors are prepared to manage with a lower quality of facilities and servicesthan they might normally expect, because it is made up for by the quality of their experiencegenerally. The original intent with the Canada Select program had been to have a ‘quality ofexperience’ rating as well as the facilities and services rating but for a variety of reasons thiswas never implemented.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study