Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 217 -across the province – museums, cultural programs and events, professional arts andculture and so on. They may receive an initial SCIF grant to get established, but nothingfor ongoing operations.Overall Approach ProposedThe consulting team has developed a number of proposals to modify the current situation andthese are introduced in the material to follow in most of the rest of this section.The objective is to establish an appropriate product development system in the province that hasthe following important capabilities:1. Ability to pursue and fund key demand generating and demand influencing projects thatrespond to the strategy, in a proactive fashion2. Encouraging and supporting the development efforts of demand influencing projectsseeking funding and other assistance3. Supporting the efforts of the tourism industry in designated destination areas4. Supporting key demand generating/influencing product sector alliances/teamsThe kinds of support associated with particular project and provided within the system wouldrange from planning and feasibility assessment, through bricks and mortar facilitiesdevelopment, business planning, professional development and training to the remainingelements of market readiness, including programming and packaging. In other words, it wouldbe designed to address, where and when required, everything involved to get a product ready togo to market in a quality fashion. The building blocks of the approach are illustrated in Exhibit 9on the following page.The whole idea is to take an opportunity/strategy approach to identifying developmentopportunities and needs, then be pro-active and entrepreneurial in pursuing developers/operatorsand in deal making.From an overview perspective, we are proposing the system to have the features illustrated in theexhibits to follow. Although it may appear at first glance to be very different that what is inplace today, in fact it builds on the organizations already in place to a maximum degree,essentially linking them in appropriate ways and coordinating their efforts to a degree. It alsofills some key gaps. There are four components involved:o Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Development Agencyo Tourism Alliances/Teamso Regional destination marketing organizations (DMOs)o Local/regional tourism industry development associations/committees (RTDAs)And there are four organizations involved directly in participating with, working with andfinancially assisting the foregoing:o HNLo The Province – DTCR and DITRDo ACOATHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study