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As appeared in The Daily
Freeman:
October 29, 2001
Metropolitan tourists look for tranquility in Catskills
By
JONATHAN MENT
Freeman staff
The Catskills and Hudson
Valley could see a boost in tourism from travelers with an increased fear of flying
or the desire to stay closer to home since the Sept. 11 attacks and the ensuing
war. "I believe tourism is going to be strong," said Peter Carofano, director of
Ulster County Tourism. "I donıt know what the duration of the strikes overseas is
going to be, but it keeps people close to home."
Carofano said the internal
market is definitely down, but people who would have gone out of the area by plane
have stayed here. "So itıs somewhat balanced off," he said. Said Karen Woods, executive
director of Dutchess County Tourism, "What weıre hearing from the individuals or
families that call?is that theyıre not traveling as far. Theyıre not taking those
exotic international vacations by plane. Theyıre traveling by car. Theyıre staying
in that 300- to 400-mile radius from home."
Ilene Marder, spokeswoman
for the Emerson Inn & Spa, said, "Itıs as if weıre back in the 1930ıs, before jet
travel and air conditioning." The inn, normally busy through the end of September,
has been "absolutely packed," Marder said. "What we find since Sept. 11 is people
have been wanting to get out of the city for just a breath of fresh air." Said Woods,
"People seem to be more stressed out and theyıre saying, ?I just need to get out
of New York City for the weekend and I want to come up to Dutchess County or the
Hudson Valley.ı Theyıre looking for that serene quiet time to spend with the family."
Caylin Sanders, founder
and President of Escapemaker.com,
a Web site designed to help New York City residents plan day trips and weekend getaways,
said the number of visitors to the site is up dramatically. "Since this happened
weıve seen a tremendous increase in the number of members that create itineraries
for themselves: Places, phone numbers, things that look interesting," Sanders said.
"We used to average two or three per day. In the past month, itıs more like seven
to ten."
Many travelers choose
the state Thruway as their means of escape, and some get off at Exit 21 near the
offices of the Greene County Promotion Department. C. Kerk Moore, county promotion
director, said visitors started arriving immediately after the attacks. Most were
looking for something to do rather than someplace quiet to do nothing, he said.
"The day after, a couple from the city came in," said Marge Stabile, a tour group
coordinator with the Greene County Promotion Department. "She got the last elevator
down from the 96th floor, I think, of the second tower. She and her husband both
worked there and got out." Said Moore, "There isnıt a line at the door, by any means.
But they say, ?We just needed to get away.ı So thatıs what they do." Most visitors
are looking for something to do, he added.
That isnıt always the
case in Dutchess County, where, Woods said, callers were looking for someplace out
of the way where they could unwind. "Theyıll say, ?Is there an out-of-the-way place
or a small bed and breakfast where I can relax?ı" Woods said. But thatıs not universal.
"There was one call that I happened to take myself." Woods said. "She and her husband
canceled their trip to Spain. She said she just decided she wanted to go to New
York and support tourism. She wanted to know where she could spend 10 to 12 days?We
gave her an itinerary in the Hudson Valley for three or four days up to the Adirondacks,
the Finger Lakes and back." Woods said guest room occupancy was holding steady this
month, but what November and December will bring is anyoneıs guess.
Business travel has been
down since the beginning of the year. Thereıs a nagging concern in the industry
that efforts to promote the scenic upstate could be viewed as ambulance-chasing
tactics designed to capitalize on the disaster and its aftermath. But for those
in the industry, promoting travel and welcoming visitors is a year-round affair.
Sanders said Escapemaker.com was
in the middle of a marketing push around the time of the attacks. Ulster County
had been preparing a roughly $35,000 radio and television ad campaign to promote
the countyıs many offerings. Moore said Greene Countyıs core audience has always
been New York and New Jersey.
All are stepping up efforts,
at least a little. Ulster County added several radio spots to its advertising campaign,
Carofano said. "Based on talks Iıve had with properties around the county, although
some business was lost, most of that was predominately corporate business," Carofano
said. "The transient business has made up for that and then some. I can see that
from the ads weıve placed in metro New York on television and radio?weıve got a
lot of responses. Weıve been very careful to be politically correct. We donıt want
to seem like fortune hunters and it seems to be working out.
For really nearby travel,
Escapemaker.com is drawing visitors
to the "Hometown Havens" area of its Web site.
That section features Manhattan hotels. "Itıs sort of getting away without getting
away," Sanders said.
In spite of increased
travel observed elsewhere, a spokesman at the Automobile Association of America
tells a slightly different story. The association is the nationıs largest leisure
travel agency, according to Robert Sinclair, manager of public relations. "In the
travel department, they say their business was down maybe 30 to 40 percent (two
weeks after the attacks)." A branch manager at the associationıs Lincoln Center
branch told Sinclair business was slower than usual for the post-summer season.
"They get a lot of requests for the fall foliage tour, but that has fallen off markedly,"
Sinclair said. Stabile said only one visitor, so far, has been irate. "(Thatıs)
because he was supposed to go to Hawaii and ended up here instead," she said.
Some visitors to the region
may arrive via ground-based public transportation such as Metro-North, Trailways
and Amtrak. "Generally weıre seen an 8 to 12 percent increase (in riders), and in
the Northeast corridor about 10 percent," said Karen Dunn, an Amtrak spokeswoman.
"Weıre talking to people who are in the stations or on the trains who have clearly
never been on them before." Dunn said Amtrakıs increased ridership is due to "a
combination of a fear of flying, fewer available flights and people who donıt want
to travel far from home." The rail carrier had a schedule change planned for Sept.
30, adding additional trains between Boston and New York, and Washington, D.C.,
and New York. It also added an additional 608 seats to the originally planned expansion.
Amtrak changed some security
practices nationwide, including suspension of onboard ticket purchases and requiring
photo identification for buyers in the terminal. "What we want to know is who is
on board the train before they pull out of the station," Dunn said. Less than a
month after the attacks, tourism professionals from across the state gathered on
Long Island for an industry conference.
"The mood was stronger
than ever," said Karen Heroy, spokeswoman for the Hudson Valley Tourism Development
Council. "The focus is on rebuilding and offering a place outside of the city just
to get a change of scenery," Heroy said. "Our other focus is to market the Hudson
valley as a National Heritage Area. This is a pretty recent designation by the federal
government. We got the designation in 1996 and a management plan is in the works."
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