Newfoundland - The Evening News
Season off to a slow start for local campgrounds
Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - "With tourism numbers down across the province, local campground owners say they are feeling the effects. Cathy Kocken, the owner of Birchwood Campgrounds in Lyons Brook, said that the season got off to a slow start."
"Other campgrounds are seeing less business. Dennis Martin, the co-owner of D&B campground in Black Point said that his numbers have been down this year."
Soooo . . what's really happening in Newfoundland?
In September 2004, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) provided RVers with a heads-up with regard to the new me-too anti-RVer (cf. Nova Scotia) legislation, confining RVers to local campgrounds after sunset:
Federation wants RVs out of mall lots
Sep 8 2004 03:22 PM NDT
CORNER BROOK "” A business lobby group doesn't like Recreational Vehicles camping in mall parking lots and wants the provincial government to enforce its regulations prohibiting the practice.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is concerned that RV tour groups head to the malls rather than go to nearby campgrounds.
Bradley George, The federation's provincial director, says provincial tourist establishment regulations don't allow that. Yet, he says, the big box stores across the province are soliciting RV tour groups to use their parking lots.
George says the bigger outlets even send out maps of their locations to RV groups across Canada and the United States.
"Enforcement is a big part of this, and I know my associates in other provinces, CFIB has been chasing down municipalities and police forces to try to get them to enforce the legislation," he says.
George has requested a meeting with Tourism Minister Paul Shelley to discuss the issue.
http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servl...f_rvs_20040908
No camping in mall lots: Shelley
Sep 14 2004 12:21 PM NDT
ST. JOHN'S "” The province's tourism minister says he's going to enforce the rules against camping in mall parking lots.
Some tourism operators have complained that big-box stores have been offering space in their lots to RV owners.
(From Sept. 8, 2004: Federation wants RVs out of mall lots)
But Tourism Minister Paul Shelley says only licensed campgrounds can do that, and he's going to crack down on unlicensed lots.
"We want to let them know that as a department in this province, we encourage people to camp in RV campsites, and I'm going to do any way that I can to do that," he says.
Shelley says his department will gather information from RV park owners about the business they feel they're losing.
He says he may have to meet with business owners to emphasize what the law says, and the fact that camping on parking lots hurts local business.
http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servl...f_rvs_20040913
And when you smell a skunk, that's usually a strong indication that there IS a skunk! Enter the Rvers nemisis: the CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Business); and organization dedicated to keeping Canadian small businesses small!:
CANADIAN FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS
388 Kenmount Road
St. John's, NL A1B 3R2
September 15, 2004
The Honourable Paul Shelley,
M.H.A. Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation
P.O. Box 8700
St. John's, NL A1B 4J6
Dear Minister Shelley:
On behalf of the province's private campground owners who are members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, I would like to thank you, Ms. Mundon and Mr. Janes for taking the time to meet with me on September 13, 2004.
I believe that our discussion of both RV camping in parking lots and unlicensed provincial campgrounds was very constructive. And, I am certain that the solutions we generated during our meeting will not only serve the best interests of private campground owners, but also those of RV owners – key tourists and contributors to the provincial economy.
I have already been in contact with CFIB members in the camping industry who, with their provincial colleagues, are compiling the names of suspected unlicensed campgrounds. I will forward this list to you for follow-up by your government's inspectors.
I appreciate your haste in responding to the concerns of our private campground members and would be pleased to discuss this issue further, should you or your officials have any questions.
Yours truly,
Bradley George Director of Provincial Affairs
Soooo . . . no big surprise that RVers are staying away from Newfoundland this year in droves! News spreads quickly in the RVing community. When we were in St. John's in 2003, we called *every* campground in the St. John's area, and there wasn't a single vacant campsite to be found anywhere! So what are the options?
Sort of sad to see Newfies going in this "RV Unfriendly" direction, when American states are starting to go in the exact opposite direction. While Newfoundland, along with Nova Scotia, is directing their political muscle toward discouraging RV tourism with their "RV Unfriendly" stance; realizing the ecomonic value of RV tourism, and the need to be seen as "RV Friendly", there is a whole new movement gaining a foothold in the USA in an effort to funnel RV tourist dollars back in their direction. To that end, Oregon, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee have recently passed state-wide legislation declaring their states as
"RV Friendly"!
Wonder how long it will take the Maritimes to awaken to the new world of RV tourism? :
-( The concept of forcing RVers to buy something they neither want nor need, doesn't have a hope of augmenting private commercial campground owners' coffers. Instead, for a Province that already costs $600 to $700 for the ferry to get there, just to say hello; RVers will tend to merely avoid the Province in it's entirety.
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Remember, the campground owner has fixed costs that occur no matter if one or 200 RV's show up. One of those costs is taxes. Elected officials who have realized this have put their foot down. Otherwise, the campground owners will be asking for lower taxes to compensate. It's already happening in several areas across the country.
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