Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 190 -There is a real need to foster entrepreneurial spirit and skills among tourism operators in theprovince. Entrepreneurial attitudes and skills should be embedded in all the professionaldevelopment programs being offered to the industry.There is also a need to promote tourism opportunities as serious business opportunities andtourism jobs as good career choices.Strengthening the Industry’s Ability To Handle Motorcoach, FIT and Other GroupSegmentsThere is a widespread need in the province for training with respect to the ability of tourismoperators to work with and accommodate the special needs of travel product intermediaries,namely:o Tour operators (motorcoach, FIT and specialty group)o Meeting plannerso Incentive travel plannersThe kinds of initiatives here would include:o Workshops with the industry on doing business with the travel trade, such as thoseavailable through the TradeSmart program currently in use in New Brunswick andNova Scotia. Adding the TradeSmart Certification part of that program would be adesirable option.o Similar workshops could be developed for meetings and conventions, incentive traveland other group market segments.o Workshops on pricing and revenue management.With respect to the last item, a particular need is for tourism operators to be able to offer theright kinds of commissions and discounts to intermediaries necessary for doing business withthem. This creates a particular challenge for most operators, as these things are commonlyviewed as losing money on the transaction. To combat this perception it will be necessary toassist operators to better understand the true nature of their cost structures and that, for thevast majority of them, the incremental cost of handling incremental business is much lowerthan their average costs, with the result that extra business, even at heavily discounted rates,generates more product, not less.In support of such workshops, workbooks should be developed and made available for use bythe operator in applying the various techniques. Similarly, making these workbooks availableonline would be particularly worthwhile.Finding and Training StaffPutting unemployed fishermen and other people in tourism to give them a job is not effective.People need to be motivated and committed. More speaking to high school students to informTHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study