Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 211 -In the second case, the approach is to ‘be open for business’ and, for communities andproponents bringing forward projects that fit the strategy, offering assistance to them within thescope of available programs. This also means advising and coaching applicants with respect tothe strategy and what is supportable.In the third instance, the approach with respect to the kinds of support is more broadly based andopen in many cases to the industry at large.With respect to facilitation, which to date hasn’t been much involved in tourism developmentefforts in the province, we recommend some new models for achieving this most importantfunction in future. This will be addressed later in this section.Strategic Tourism Development versus Community Economic DevelopmentIn Section 7 we addressed the question of this apparent conflict, which should be no conflict atall, as long as community economic development efforts are pursued in an appropriately strategicfashion. The reader should revisit that discussion. Also, later in this section we will address theopportunity for a collaborative effort within government in this regard.Development FundingFunding is a key element in tourism product development, so we address it first. Later in thissection we will address the various other support needs and opportunities, in the context ofproposals for future program delivery models.Atlantic Canada Opportunities AgencyACOA is the primary funding agency for tourism product development in the province. A lot ofcomments and suggestions have come forward during the research in this study and those we seeas being worthy of some attention are summarized below in the context of being constructive forthe future:o More than 50% should be available under the Business Development Programo Term of repayment should be much longer for projects requiring significant marketdevelopment, e.g. vacation accommodation properties. Also, some operating subsidy forthe first year or two should be considered.o Red tape, too much time required for processing and approvalo Reviewers need relevant expertise on tourism and the kind of business involvedo Funding B&Bs that are private homes should be discontinued altogethero Help should be available for pre-planning – concept, design, and feasibility - is needed bymany operators prior to developing their submission for fundingo Need a better policy and process vis-a-vis competitive impacts of new development andexpansions to allow more of these projects to proceedo How about a self-evaluation tool for operators, with guidelines for different types ofdevelopment that would also serve as a pre-screening tool for ACOA?THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study