Officials tout tourism campaign
Ulster County will promote tourism with a new, “Seek for Yourself” campaign developed by an Oklahomabased agency, Cubic, Inc., that specializes in tourism promotion.
The campaign, announced at a press conference Thursday, will encourage tourists, primarily from the New York City area, to create their own adventures in Ulster County’s various breweries, wineries and farms.
Ulster County Executive Michael Hein announced the campaign at the Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery with Ulster County’s Director of Tourism Rick Remsnyder and distillery cofounder Ralph Erenzo.
“In Ulster County, we have embraced the idea that tourism plays a pivotal role in our economy and it is growing by leaps and bounds because of a lot of effort by an enormous amount of partners,” said Hein. “This (campaign) is an example of exactly that, a tourism-based promotional effort.”
Hein said county tourism efforts have pivoted from close at home to the New York metropolitan area.
Remsnyder said county promotion is “broad-based” ... “not only print, but digital, TV, radio, and it’s going to continue. In the first couple of months, we’ve already seen tangible results from this campaign, so it is working.”
Yancy Migliore, co-owner of Whitecliff Vineyard, said, “we are seeing a visible increase in people in the door and we’ve grown consistently over a lot of years. “So I’m excited to see what (Ulster County) is doing. And promoting to the metro area is exactly what I want.”
County officials said tourism spending has increased in Ulster County for the seventh straight year, resulting in tourism revenue of $554 million for 2016, an increase of $21 million over 2015. According to a state-commissioned report by Oxford Economics Co., tourism spending in Ulster County has increased by 32 percent over seven years.