Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 216 -information services. There is essentially no program funding for product development,nor a clear mandate in this respect. So it doesn’t really engage in strategic productdevelopment in other than a nominal fashion.o DITRD, which has an extensive network of field operations dealing with economicdevelopment, including tourism, is a separate department with no formal, or eveninformal linkage with DTCR. Essentially DITRD does tourism development whileDTCR doesn’t. While this is perhaps satisfactory from a regional/communitydevelopment perspective, it doesn’t in any way address the even more important issues ofstrategic, priority tourism development from a province-wide perspective, which isextremely unfortunate.o ACOA, as a federal economic development agency, operates autonomously fromprovincial or industry product development activities. While there is an informal systemof consultation on tourism projects under consideration by ACOA, and whileindependence is perhaps necessary given the nature and structure of the organization,there needs to be some more formal mechanism to link and coordinate the respectiveefforts of the different agencies.o The absence of a mandated and funded Provincial government product developmentfunction other than that associated with community economic development means thatthere is no strategy-driven, proactive mechanism for tourism product development effort.This same situation carries over to ACOA, which, while definitely being committed tosupporting and assisting tourism development, has no proactive mechanism either. Theyhave the BDP and SCIF programs under which they respond to applications forassistance that come forward. While their field staff act proactively on a case-by-casebasis, there is no strategy-driven, organized effort to do so.o Complicating the foregoing, we have a very dysfunctional system of regional tourismindustry associations (RTAs) that are under-funded and not seen to be particularlyeffective. As a result, many of them are winding down and there is nothing else currentlybeing put in place to replace them with a more effective model. What we are left with area large number of small local and regional groups clamouring for assistance but makinglittle if any headway, except perhaps, getting one-time grants for community not-forprofitprojects.o The situation is slightly better with sector-based industry organizations, however, theonly ones that seem to be achieving notable results are the outfitters and the adventuretourism groups. And their efforts are modest due to the modest resources available tothem.o The foregoing issues are all associated with product development, however, there is alsothe issue of the needs for ongoing support as well. Other than commercial productsfunded on a repayable basis through the BDP that are expected to pay their way throughrevenues, there is no mechanism or program in place to provide ongoing support,financial or otherwise to the diversity of not-for-profit and community-based projectsTHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study