Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 189 -considered in the mystery shopping process and rewarded where appropriate. In other words,they would be scored on ‘Newfoundland and Labrador hospitality’ not just ‘hospitality’.We had considered a Qualmark-style program (New Zealand’s program), which is based on acomprehensive self-assessment process including preparing business plans, marketing plansand things such as human resource policies and practices. We believe that, while there aremerits to such a concept, it is too complex and would require too great of a commitment onbehalf of the industry to be widely adopted. The mystery shopping concept is more practicaland objective.It will be important to ensure that the standards used in the mystery shopper program are alsoincorporated in training and professional development program in the province.Also, more information should be included in the provincial Travel Guide on the CanadaSelect program (and the Camping Select program as it becomes established) as well asdefinitions of the categories of accommodations.Training and Professional DevelopmentA series of training and professional development programs are required, particularly at themanagement level. These should involve a combination of seminars and workshops, onlinetraining programs, mentoring, and best practices trips. HNL has offered a few such programsin the past but there needs to be a much broader offering and a strong effort at encouragingthe industry to participate in these programs.An effort also needs to continue to be made to offer programs at the regional level to makethem more accessible to people. Making online and CD versions available would be helpfulin this regard. Specific suggestions for owner/management training include:o Product study missions can be very effective, particularly if bundled with structuredtrainingo Training on modern computer tools, website development, direct marketing, websitemaximizationo Pricing methods, including revenue managementTraining has to involve owners and management, not just junior staff. Their participationshould be a pre-requisite where the training focuses on management issues.Trainers need to be people who have had real hands-on experience in the business who canspeak from this experience, not retired civil servants repeating what they’ve read.The mentoring support programs being used in CTC product club programs would be of greatassistance if they could be used more broadly in the industry.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study