Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 225 -The first iteration of the agency model can be accomplished in a fashion such as summarizedbelow:1. DTCR and DITRD enter into a joint venture agreement to collaborate on the first tasks2. A startup plan is drafted, setting out initial projects/programs to be undertaken, staff andbudget to be allocated to them, timetables and monitoring methods to be followed.3. An initial director is appointed by DTCR, along with a working group of internal andexternal stakeholders to function as an advisory committee4. The agency is established as a crown corporation or other appropriate structure5. An Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is negotiated and signed with ACOA, HNLand any other partners with respect to their participation in items 2 and 3 aboveFirst ProjectsWe suggest that the first projects might be selected from the following list of priority initiatives:o One or two of the key strategic projects presented at the end of Section 6o Planning for the initial natural/cultural heritage support programso Design the programs for the Regional DMOs and Regional Tourism DevelopmentAssociationso Host regional and sector meetings to present these planso Establishment of the initiative to engage tour operators in working with the DMOs andstrategic sector alliances, described as Newfoundland Experiences Inc.o Assist HNL in developing a plan for the Quality Assurance Councilo Design the program to assist communities and destination areas with strategic tourismdevelopment planso Investigate the implications of integrating the various Provincial tourism-relatedoperations into the agency and develop a plan and schedule to accomplish sameTourism Alliances/TeamsThe establishment of working groups of industry and government into ‘product teams’ wasrecommended in the 1996 Product Market Match Strategy and subsequently implemented in theProvince. However, the progress was limited and the effort has largely fizzled out today, exceptfor the adventure tourism group.This is unfortunate, as we believe the concept can be made to work. A similar approach has beenadopted in Ontario in the establishment of more than 14 alliances of compatible partners to worktogether on market readiness, packaging and marketing, coordinated by three provincial alliancecoordinators. While all of the alliances haven’t prospered, a number of them have, lendingcredibility to the concept. (It is instructive that the product alliance concept was imported byOntario from Newfoundland and Labrador during the planning for the Ontario TourismMarketing Partnership.)The program didn’t work in Newfoundland and Labrador due to a virtual absence of resourcesbeing committed to support the effort, both people and funding. (Ontario provided coordinatorsTHE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study