May 10, 2004
The Post-Standard

Impact of Tourism detailed in Study: Oswego County Raked in $35.2 Million on Visitor Spending on Recreation

Tourists visiting Oswego County last year added $115 million to the economy, according to a new study on the economic impact of tourism in Northern New York .

Throughout the Adirondack and Thousand Island Seaway regions last year, visitors spent $1.5 billion, the study showed.

"What this study did was take a snapshot in time and tell us what the impact of tourism is to our community," Christine Gray, director of Promotion and Tourism in Oswego County , said late last week.

More than 700 businesses in the county depend on tourism each year, she said.

"These numbers show tourism is all throughout the county," Gray said. "We're not just in one building."

The Davidson-Peterson Associates consulting firm, of Maine, surveyed tourism visitors in Adirondack and Thousand Island Seaway regions last year, then developed an economic impact study for the 13-county area, Gray said. It took nine months to complete, but it is the first such study completed in this area.

The consulting firm used four ways to measure the economic impact of how much money visitors spent in 2003: By the number of full-time jobs supported by tourism; the amount of wages, salaries and proprietary income generated; state government revenues generated; and local government revenues generated.

Northern New York Travel and Tourism Research Center , based at the State University College at Potsdam , recently released the results of the survey.

The study showed 529,168 visitors stayed overnight in hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, campsites and cottages and with friends and family throughout Oswego County . Tourism in the county provided 2,670 jobs with a total impact of $42 million to the county's economy. And overall, Oswego County led all of the counties surveyed on visitor spending on recreation by raking in $35.2 million.

The consultants estimated that 35,000 jobs were supported by both direct and indirect tourist dollars and that tourists pump nearly $115 million into state coffers and account for about $150 million in local government revenues.

Visitor expenditures throughout Northern New York also resulted in an estimated $662 million in wages, salaries and income earned by business owners, according to the study.

"I think all of the Upstate economy is moving away from manufacturing and evolving into more of a service industry," Gray said. "For many communities, tourism is a vital economic development tool. The things we take for granted, like our waterways, are very attractive to tourists."

Without the tourism dollars, last year's overall unemployment rate in Northern New York would have jumped to 23 percent, according to the study. Taxpayers would have paid an extra $505 per household to maintain government services at current levels. In Oswego County , the unemployment rate would have risen to 19 percent without the tourism dollars, and county taxpayers would have seen their taxes increase by $244 to maintain county services at the present level, according to Davidson-Peterson Associates' calculations.

"The numbers certainly verify the important role tourism plays in Oswego County 's economy," County Legislator Kimberly Seager, R-Phoenix, said in a news release. "As we study the data, it can provide existing businesses with the demographic information needed for expansion and offer new entrepreneurs the data to start new businesses that will meet tourists' needs."