Jackman to double tourism revenue by 2020

Tourism article from 'The Western Star'

Provincial 'vision'; Jackman hopes to double tourism revenue by 2020

Clyde Jackman unleashed “Uncommon Potential” Friday at the Pepsi Centre. The Tourism minister said the initiative, which is a partnership between his department and Hospitality Newfoundland Labrador, is aimed at the ambitious goal of doubling the $800-million in annual revenue from tourism in this province by 2020.

To that end, he unveiled three television ads that are hitting the airwaves on specialty networks, like the Discovery Channel, CBC Newsworld and TSN. He said the advertisements, hatched by Target Marketing and Communications, are the third installment of a series that have drawn an emotional response.

“In the first series of ads, there’s one thing that struck me and I use it all the time,” Jackman said. “It says ‘we’re as far away from Disneyland as you can get or want to be.That speaks exactly about it. When you see them and the first time I saw them they sent chills up my spine.
“Anywhere I go in my travels across this country I preach it, this is the best bloody place to live in the world. I tell it to people and other people may feel the same about the jurisdictions, but I think there’s something very special about the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and these folks (Target) captured it.”

Jackman said a tourism board will be created to cement the public, private partnership in a formal manner to lead the implementation of the strategy. The province is about to sign a three-year Atlantic Canada tourism partnership agreement. He also said the province’s tourism website is being enhanced with new interpretive mapping and an interactive blog.
Jackman said the upgrades will be a great asset to the travellers.

There will be fluctuations in the market, he said, but the province is holding its own right now. He believes despite the downturn, tourism will be one of the province’s greatest economic drivers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s not fool ourselves, these are tough times,” Jackman said. “There are challenges. We’re in the midst of a global recession and now more than ever, we have to be aggressive in our efforts to remain competitive in a national and international marketplace.
“As a department, we’re being proactive in our approach to marketing Newfoundland and Labrador as a destination of choice.”

Original Western Star article