The Peru Gazette

From the North Country Chamber of Commerce

Plattsburgh – 10/14/2021– Empire State Development and I Love NY recently released their 2020 Economic Impact Study showing the effect tourism had on New York State, the Adirondack region and Clinton County during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below are the key findings for New York State, The Adirondack Region and Clinton County.

New York State Tourism

• Visitor spending was $33.9 billion in 2020, Despite the decline in visitor spending, this means that almost $93 million was still spent EVERY DAY by visitors in NYS. (Down 70% over 2019)
• NYS Visitors Spending Losses was $39.7 billion, however the losses in 2020 is similar in size to New York’s share of the $2 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress in 2020.
• The industry generated $5.9 billion in State and local sales tax, saving each NYS household roughly $801 in taxes

Adirondack Region Tourism
Comprised of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Lewis and Warren Counties, the Adirondack Region also saw decent and sustainable numbers:

• $1,310,300,000 in traveler spending (down less than 10% over 2019)
• $75,550,000 collected to state taxes (down less than 7% over 2019)
• $100,033,000 contributed to local taxes (down less than 1% over 2019)

Adirondack Coast & Clinton County Tourism
Along with the state tourism spending breakdowns, the study also shows how the counties in the Adirondacks are stacking up. Clinton County Tourism obviously took a hit in 2020, but was much smaller than what the state took on as a whole.

• $100,800,000 in traveler spending (Down 28% over 2019)
• $6,229,000 collected in state taxes (Down 24% over 2019)
• $8,800,000 contributed in local taxes (Down 5% over 2019)

Kristy Kennedy, VP, Marketing at the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau and North Country Chamber of Commerce, as well as The Tourism Promotion Agency for Clinton County via I Love NY, states, “These numbers while down from 2019, which was a banner year for tourism, are still higher than the state numbers and shows that our switch in marketing messaging and reaching into more urban markets helped us fare well in a tumultuous year. Looking forward to new growth in 2022.”