Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 70 -The tourism industry in Newfoundland and Labrador and the provincial government haveexpressed concerns about the fact that the product development efforts of Tourism Atlanticare undertaken largely in isolation and do not necessarily reflect provincial strategic priorities.Whereas the tourism industry associations and the provinces are at the table when it comes tomarketing (see below), there is not a similar involvement on the product development issues.ACOA, through Tourism Atlantic, also supports the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership(ACTP) a partnership/collaboration of the four Atlantic provinces and the tourism industryassociations for partnered marketing programs in external markets.Human Resources & Skills Development (HRSD)HRSD (formerly HRDC) is mandated to assist individuals increase their employment skillsand communities by building economic and labour market capacity. Their programs includethose targeted at Community development (towards expansion of employment base), Youthemployment (wage subsidies and business loans) and Local Labour Market Partnerships(labour costs and sharing of capital costs).CommentsHRSD (and its predecessor HRDC) has been very supportive of a number of initiatives in thisprovince that have helped to build tourism success stories.In many cases, however, the Department’s programs have not been that helpful to theindustry. The criteria for HRSD monies, particularly with respect to the staff that can be hiredusing these funds have been problematic. In many cases, the overriding criteria is that thefunding is only available to hire people that are on, or eligible for, Employment Insurance, orthat meet a number of other criteria having to do with labour force entry or re-entry. Havingthe appropriate skills for the position that is available has not been an important criterion.Also, the funding is only available for a limited period of time. The result has been achallenge in getting qualified people under the HRSD programs, a challenge compounded bythe lack of resources for training and the short term of the funding meaning that operators arereluctant to commit resources to training when staff are going to be leaving in a short time.The people leave (because the funding program expires) just as they start to learn the job andtheir efforts start to bear fruit. These problems are of particular concern for positions thatrequire expertise and skill, such as for the local and regional tourism associations. The netresult has been in some cases, more harm than good and has resulted in a loss of industryconfidence and involvement in these associations.Canadian Tourism CommissionThe Commission has two thrusts that are important in terms of tourism product development.The Product Development Unit has sponsored a number of initiatives such as a productdevelopment strategy for cuisine tourism, a focus on winter product development andpackages.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study