“Seek for Yourself” is the new
theme for Ulster Tourism
GARDINER – Hot off a significant boost in tourism revenue, Ulster
County Tourism is now ramping up efforts to continue the upward trend
by announcing its “Seek for Yourself” campaign.
“Seek for Yourself,” which was developed by Oklahoma-based
agency Cubic, Inc., encourages 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 historic Tuthilltown Spirits Distillery along with
Ulster County’s Director of Tourism Rick Remsnyder and the distillery’s
co-founder 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.”
In his announcement, Hein thanked the partners who helped with the tourism
boost and talked about the journey Ulster County tourism has taken to
reach exponential heights.
“Ten years ago, we just dreamed of what was possible,” he
said. “To be quite frank, our tourism office wasn’t fully
developed. We were just promoting Ulster County to people living in Ulster
County. The truth of the matter was, we weren’t doing a particularly
good job of accessing the 22 million people who live in the New York metro
area and who are less than 100 miles away from virtually everything we
have to offer.”
Hein added that Ulster County’s media visibility in publications
such as National Geographic adds to its growth as a tourist destination,
stating that the area is “no longer a best-kept secret.”
Remsnyder thanked Hein for the boost in tourism and talked about how
the “Seek for Yourself” campaign has made an impact in a short
amount of time.
“We have a broad-based advertising campaign,” he said. “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, had this to say about
the rise in tourism for Ulster County and how it impacts her business.
“We are seeing a visible increase in people in the door and we’ve
grown consistently over a lot of years,” she said. “So I’m
excited to see what [Ulster County] is doing. And promoting to the Metro
area is exactly what I want.”
For the seventh consecutive year, tourism spending has increased in
Ulster County, resulting in tourism revenue of $554 million for 2016,
which is an increase of $21 million compared to 2015. Also, according
to the New York State commissioned report by the Oxford Economics Company,
tourism spending in Ulster County has increased by 32 percent in just
seven years. Additionally, 7,800 travel guides sent out this year have
been sent to travelers looking to visit Ulster County, which is already
a 63 percent increase from 2016.
