New Tourism Board Chair Announced

A new chair has been selected for the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Board for a two-year term. Barry Rogers, a tourism industry leader in the province, assumed the position of board chair on May 20.

“The Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Board was established in 2009 to oversee the continuous development and growth of our province’s tourism industry, and it is important we have a strong leader at the helm to continue this important work,” said the Honourable Terry French, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. “I am delighted with the appointment of Barry Rogers as chair. He is a well-known member of the tourism community, and I am confident he will help continue the momentum of the board over the next two years.”

The tourism board comprises a chair, industry leaders selected by Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador, representatives from each of the province’s four Destination Marketing Organizations, and senior government representatives. The Provincial Government established the board in February 2009 as a vehicle to help guide the province’s tourism industry into the future and implement Uncommon Potential – A Vision for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism (Vision 2020). The tourism strategy, developed by industry and government, emphasizes that a focused and unified approach is critical to the success of the province’s tourism industry.

“Over the past several years, the tourism board has certainly helped advance the goals that were put forth in our tourism vision, Uncommon Potential,” said Minister French. “I look forward to our continued collaboration with the tourism industry through the board, and wish Barry well in his new role.”

Investments in the tourism sector to date helped raise tourism spending in the province to $1 billion for the first time in 2011. This places the province ahead of schedule for achieving the goal shared with industry to double the amount of tourism spending in the province from 2009 levels when the tourism strategy was launched.

Mr. Rogers biography is contained in the backgrounder below.

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Media contact:
Melony O’Neill
Director of Communications
Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation
709-729-0928, 689-0928
moneill@gov.nl.ca 

BACKGROUNDER

Biography of Barry Rogers

Barry Rogers is the owner and President of Iceberg Quest Ocean Tours in Twillingate and St. John's. He brings experience from multiple industries to the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Board. He is an award-winning Enrolment Director with the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of Canadian Scholarship Trust Consultants Inc. For the past 34 years, he has pioneered the oldest and most successful RESP provider in Canada in multiple regions: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon. He continues to provide services that will enable post-secondary students across eastern and northern Canada to lead our country to a better future.

Descended from a long line of seafarers, Barry grew up on Twillingate Island where he learned to love and respect the ocean. This upbringing led him to start Iceberg Quest Ocean Tours in Twillingate in 1999. The honesty, conscientiousness, and friendliness he developed in the financial world uniquely prepared him for tourism. He has since dedicated himself to providing life-changing experiences and encounters with true Newfoundland and Labrador culture to all of his guests. Barry has grown his business, with expansion into St. John's Harbour front, into one of the province's largest and most successful boat tour operations. For over 10 years, he has provided culturally immersive oceanic experiences to visitors as they search for icebergs and whales in two of Newfoundland and Labrador's most popular tourist destinations.

Barry is also a board member of Adventure, Central Newfoundland and Labrador's Destination Management Organization.

2013 05 27             11:05 a.m.