“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,” the county exec 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,” Migliore 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.
