Ulster tourism revs up promotion
From the HITS Fairgrounds in Saugerties to its Shawangunk Wine Trail, Ulster County Tourism is gearing up for what it hopes will be another winning season for visitors.
Richard Remsnyder, Ulster Tourism”™s executive director, said the county”™s blitz of commercials in the metropolitan area last year helped boost its visitor numbers in 2010 ”“ and he”™s hoping 2011 will be even better.
“Our marketing plan has been widely diverse, and we”™re hoping to match the success we had last year,” Remsnyder said. “We have some great tourism partners who helped promote the county by participating in giveaways when we ran our radio campaign downstate last year ”“ Mohonk Mountain House, Rocking Horse Ranch, Pine Grove Ranch and others helped us by giving a weekend getaway along with other partners who offered prizes, so it was a very successful campaign. We are planning a similar campaign with 1010WINS and 101.1 CBS starting in late May through the summer.”
Remsnyder credits the nearly 50 percent increase in website hits Ulster Tourism received to the radio commercials it ran last year and hopes to duplicate and build on that success this season.
“The idea is obviously to drive people to our website, ulstercountyalive.com. It was created in October 2009 to coincide with the opening of Walkway Over the Hudson,” he said.
Although the tourism office is focusing on urbanites in the  metropolitan area in its campaign, it is using local talent to help promote Ulster. “We are running a 30-second spot on ABC,” said Remsnyder, “and Ellenbogen Media in Kingston produced it for us. It has been very well-received and is on the website, promoting some of the top recreational offerings we have in the county.”
Ulster Tourism tracks the number of visitors it gets from New York State Thruway statistics. “We count how many cars get off at our three Ulster exits-New Paltz, Kingston and Saugerties,” said Remsnyder. “We also track visitors by getting information back from our properties, who let us know how they are doing.” Remsnyder said Ulster, 2010 showed most of its overnight venues sold out every weekend in the fall. “We hope the radio and TV saturation helped to bring that about. I think our investment paid off, because in our critical summer vacation months last year, we saw a 12 percent increase in hotel occupancy over 2009.”
Ulster Tourism works closely with the Ulster County Regional, New Paltz and Southern Ulster chambers of commerce to help promote tourism. It plans to have its tourism partners gather May 19 at the Kingston Holiday Inn from 4 to 6 p.m. to showcase this year”™s offerings. “It”™s a great exchange of information between all our tourism venues and for residents who want to find local events and things to do,” he said.
It is also printing 100,000 copies of its Ulster guide along with a pullout map highlighting destinations. “I know people surf the Internet, but even in the electronic age, people still ask for a travel guide.”
Remsnyder said Ulster County Executive Michael Hein and the Legislature have been very supportive of the tourism bureau. “We received a slight increase in our budget this year, a little over $750,000. We take it seriously and are very mindful of how and where we spend our tourism dollars to maximize business. … the county knows how important tourism is to Ulster”™s economy.” Saugerties is also getting a lot of attention, even on the Thruway. “It is listed as ”˜One of the coolest towns in America,”™ as is Phoenicia.”
Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS) is promoting its Diamond Mills Inn and Conference Center, which President and CEO Tom Struzzieri believes will change the economic landscape.
“I think it will be significant for Saugerties,” Struzzieri said in a statement.  “It”™s going to be a beacon of the south part of the village. Locally, I think it”™s really going to help the village of Saugerties, and then on a bigger picture, start to help more of Ulster County as people from the towns start to visit.” He plans to give an update April 26 on the project to the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce. The project is expected to include a conference center and hotel with a 400-seat catering hall and 100-seat restaurant when completed later this year.
Remsnyder hopes Mother Nature cooperates the way she did in 2010. “Last year, we had wonderful weather every weekend. The year before, we had rain every weekend. We are certainly hoping for a repeat performance of 2010 for the upcoming season.”