Tourism in the Adirondacks

          It’s no surprise that the Adirondack economy relies heavily on tourism. Every year millions of people flood to the region, coming for everything from hiking the high peaks to relaxing and shopping in Lake Placid. Over the semester we discussed the tensions between locals and tourists in terms of using the land for recreation rather than a means of survival. However, locals often greatly depend on business from tourists in order to thrive. Tourism generates 17% of total employment in the area, and a little more than 1 in 6 jobs in the region are tourism related. The Adirondack Almanack recently published an article about a study conducted by the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) regarding tourism in the Adirondacks in 2014. ROOST is a destination marketing organization in charge of promoting the counties in the Adirondacks to the traveling public. Thus, the study focused on who the tourists were—such as their average age and family make-up—and why they visited, in order to inform their marketing strategies and better target the demographic visiting most. The findings were very interesting, demonstrating a change in trends from past years.

            The study found that the average visitor age of the respondents to the survey was 49 years old, a decrease from previous years. This perhaps indicates that a slightly younger population is visiting the region. Additionally, the average party size of visitors was 3.9 people, with an average of 2.7 adults and 1.2 children. This is the first time the average number of children per visiting party rose above 1, indicating that more families came to the area. In order to better understand what attractions were drawing people to region, the study asked the respondents their reasons for visiting. Results showed that tourists were lured mostly by “outdoor activities”, followed next by “relaxing, dining and shopping”. Of the people who said that they visited the Adirondacks for outdoor activities, 85% said that they came for hiking. Clearly a huge attraction in the park is the mountains. For water sports, 55% said they came for paddling, 36% for fishing, and 25% for boating. Winter sports were less of a draw, with only 17% visiting for skiing or snowboarding. The report also showed the peak months in which visitation was the highest. The pie chart below shows the breakdown of the months. The highest influx of tourists occurred in the height of summer (July/August), followed by early summer (May/June) and then early fall (September/October). The winter visitation reported dropped considerably from 2013. These results demonstrate that tourists largely visit the region in the summer months.

           Overall, visitors spent an estimated of $158 million during the visits to Essex County, generating thousands of dollars in income for businesses. Clearly, tourism is an extremely vital economic advantage in the Adirondacks, and a decline in outside visitors would be detrimental to the region. It is important for the state to conduct studies such as this one in order to better understand the attractions of the region and encourage tourism.

Sources:

http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/11/2014-tourism-study-hiking-paddling-water-sports-big-draws.html

http://www.adirondackbasecamp.com/2008/09/tourism-impact-adirondacks/