Valley grows as tourist hot spot
Sometimes it pays to be within easy traveling distance of New York City ”“ and not look at all like it.
One of the world”™s great tourist draws, the city accounted for 65 percent of spending by visitors to the Empire State in 2012, or about $37.1 billion, according to a recent state-commissioned study.
Its regional neighbors, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, though vastly overshadowed by Gotham in spending numbers, ranked second and third in the state in tourism sales last year. The three geographical neighbors together raked in nearly 80 percent of travelers”™ dollars spent in the state in 2012.
Long Island, where visitors spent an estimated $5.1 billion in 2012, accounted for 9 percent of the state”™s tourism sales, according to Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company based in Philadelphia. The Hudson Valley”™s approximately $3.2 billion in tourism sales amounted to a 6 percent share of the state market, just ahead of the Finger Lakes region, where travelers spent nearly $2.8 billion last year.
The annual study, prepared by Tourism Economics for Empire State Development, the state”™s economic development agency and overseer of the long-running “I Love New York” marketing campaign, measures the economic impact of tourism in 11 regions across the state. The Hudson Valley region surveyed includes Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Columbia counties.
In an industry still recovering from lost business and leisure travel trade in the recession, “2012 was very good for the Hudson Valley region,” said Mary Kay Vrba, president of Hudson Valley Tourism Inc. and Dutchess County”™s tourism director in Poughkeepsie. The regional group she heads includes 10 counties from Westchester north to Albany.
In that larger geographical region, Vrba said tourists spent more than $4.75 billion in 2012. More than 81,000 persons worked in tourism or tourism-related jobs in the region at the start of this year, she said.
Vrba said Hudson Valley Tourism Inc. receives approximately $100,000 to $120,000 in annual funding from the state”™s I Love New York program, which is matched by contributions from the 10 counties in the tourism group. Last December, the association was awarded an additional $300,000 state grant for its tourism promotions.
“I think the (study) numbers show that the dollars that are invested in tourism are paying off,” Vrba said.
The six-county valley region studied by economists showed 2.9 percent growth in traveler spending in 2012 from the previous year. Spending growth here, though, was well below the statewide average of 6.2 percent. Only the Chautauqua-Allegheny region, with 1 percent growth, and the oenophile-attracting Finger Lakes region, with 2 percent growth, trailed the Hudson Valley in that category.
New York City led the state with a 7.3 percent rise in traveler spending last year, while Long Island was second with 6.3 percent.
“Overall, it”™s continuous steady growth, although it might not be as large as other areas,” Vrba said. “It”™s been continued steady growth upwards.”
Westchester County dwarfed its valley neighbors in spending by tourists, with visitors dropping nearly $1.7 billion here last year, the study found. That sum represented 53 percent of the region”™s tourism sales. It was s 1.6 percent increase in tourist spending in the county from 2011.
Dutchess County was second to Westchester in the region with approximately $475.6 million in traveler spending last year.
Rockland County, where visitors spent $400.3 million in 2012, had the largest percentage increase in sales at 8.3 percent.
Only Putnam County saw a decline in tourism spending in 2012, with approximately $52.6 million in sales. That was a 3.9 percent decrease from 2011.
Putnam County Tourism Director Libby Pataki could not be reached for comment on the study”™s findings. Vrba suggested the decline could be tied to a lack of overnight accommodations for visitors to the county.
The tourism industry employed about 35,700 workers in the region last year, or 4.5 percent of the region”™s total workforce. In Westchester, about 16,000 workers were directly employed in tourism, making up 4 percent of the county”™s total workforce.
The most tourist-dependent county for employment, Dutchess, had 5.4 percent of its workforce directly employed in the industry last year.
Westchester also produced 53 percent, or about $200.4 million, of the roughly $379.9 million in state and local taxes generated by travelers to the region in 2012. Putnam County had the region”™s lowest share of taxes, 1.7 percent, with tourists generating about $6.4 million in taxes there.
Vrba noted the Hudson Valley was given another boost this year in its tourism promotion efforts by National Geographic Traveler. The magazine hailed New York City”™s greener, cleaner neighbor for its diverse cultural offerings in art, music and dining when including it among 20 international destinations on its Best Trips 2013 list.
“Just a couple hours north of New York City,” the Traveler stated, “this is a land of mom-and-pop shops, ”˜u-pick”™ wildflower fields, and organic farm stands where ”˜chain”™ is a four-letter word. Between the Culinary Institute of America grads too enchanted to leave Hyde Park and the influx of NYC chefs realizing the land is greener (and apartments bigger) here, area eateries such as Blue Hill at Stone Barns are stoking locavore passions.”
“I think that speaks volumes about what we have to offer to visitors when they come,” Vrba said. “We”™ve got world-class attractions and we”™ve got 10 counties that cooperate to help get the word out and build the brand.”
Through the economy”™s highs and lows, “We”™re going to be around,” said Vrba. “This is one industry that you can”™t outsource.”