Fuel prices affect local tourism
By RICHARD NILSEN, The Leader-HeraldArticle Photos
With tourism such an important part of the local economy, business people have had their eyes on the weather, the calendar and fuel prices.
Jonathan Lane, co-owner of Charlie Johns in Speculator said he had been questioning whether the hike in gas prices might keep tourists closer to home and actually help the local economy.
"I'd say it won't help, in general," Lane said Tuesday.
Lane said the winter had been good business-wise, but it was followed by a poor spring turnout. Then the week of July 4 did very well.
"It was better than last year," he said. "That was partly because when the fourth fell."
He said with the fourth on a Friday, there were a lot of people who took a long weekend. Last year, when it fell on a Wednesday, it didn't have the same effect.
"It does seem that people are coming here and staying longer rather than driving back and forth on weekends with gas prices so high," he said.
Lane speculated people may be getting over the initial hike in gas prices, but it was still having a strong effect on their plans for vacations.
"I know local camping spots have been full," Lane said. "As the summer wears on we'll be able to tell more."
Lane said one of the items he questioned was his sale of annual flowers that summer residents buy.
"I thought people might pass on flowers this year, but they did well," he said. "Also there has been no downward trend at our supermarket here. And general merchandise at the store has been holding steady as well."
Neil McGovern, owner of the Inn at Speculator in Hamilton County said it was a bit early in the season to be able to predict how the summer would perform.
"We've had busy days, although [business] people were grumbling Monday that it was too quiet," McGovern said. "I don't think there is a definite trend as yet. It's been a mixed bag."
McGovern said he was pretty sure the boat traffic on Lake Pleasant was off in comparison to last year, and he attributed that to gas prices.
"I think there will be more canoeing, kayaking and sailing this year," he quipped. "I expect an upsurge in non-motorized boating."
Although he said a trend had yet to be established, he felt fewer people were going to Europe of national parks this year and there would likely be more people staying closer to home.
"Whether or not that makes up for a poor economy for us is still a question," he said. "So far it's a wash."
Still, he said most people need to get away to relax and would find a way to do so.
"Summer folks will get to the beach and the mountains," he said "They
will recreate one way or another."
In Mayfield, Chris Lanzi of Lanzi's on the Lake said June was "the best June we've had in 16 years," but he said lunches have been down recently while dinner traffic was doing well.
"I think gas prices are definitely a factor," Lanzi said. "People who might have gone to Europe or the ocean are staying closer to home."
At the Adirondack Gateway Mobil in Mayfield, owner Elayne Wade agreed with Lanzi.
"We had a good June, but July has been off," she said. "Our July traffic is half what it was last year."
Fulton County Tourism Director Alison Swartz said one way she can gauge how the tourist season is going is by taking a look at inquiries that come into her office.
"At this time of year normally we'll have 16,000 inquiries," she said Tuesday. "Right now we have 17,000."
Swartz said she had changed her advertising budget this year to reflect expected changes in tourism due to the hike in gas prices.
"I changed 20 percent of the budget to capital district and Mohawk Valley advertising that had been going to neighboring states," she said. "I didn't rule out neighboring states but I did knock out the mid-Atlantic states advertising."
Swartz said another part of the computation for tourism was with cards filled out by people who stop in at the visitor center in Vail Mills.
"The visitor center log-in numbers are pretty steady from last year," she said. "From Jan. through June there were 4,400 people who signed in with their name, address and contact information this year. That's about 20 or 30 less than last year, but shows very little change."
Swartz said with gas prices up, she was surprised to find people were still coming from New York City, Penn. and nearby states.
"They're still coming here," she said.
Swartz said she is doing a research market study which will give her a better idea of the tourism patterns by next January.
"Most come from nearby states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but also there are visitors from California, New Mexico and even from overseas like the United Kingdom and France."
At Canada Lake Store in the Caroga township, Dorothy Fielding said weekdays were quiet, but the weekend of the 4th was quite busy.
Her daughter, heather Fielding, is in her fifth year at Lake Effect Cafe and said she was also quite busy over the July 4 weekend.
"It gets very quiet mid-week," she said.
Both Fieldings said the summer wasn't far along enough to make a determination or comparison with previous years.
Forest Ranger John Ploss said at one local trailhead he counted 35 cars parked over the weekend of the 4th as compared to 20 last year.
"I'd rather not say which trailhead that was," Ploss said. "I don't want even more people showing up there."
He said he thought inexpensive vacationing like camping was definitely on the upsurge with increased gas prices and the state of the economy.
In Montgomery County, Tourism Director Gina DaBiere-Gibbs said it was too early yet to determine how their county is doing.
"We have no final numbers yet, but the crowds from the weekend's Canal Days were decent," she said. "The 85-degree temperatures Saturday helped."
DaBiere-Gibbs said she thought people were staying more locally based than in previous years.
"As far as I can tell, people are sticking closer to home," she said.
"We still show people from out of town as well. I know at Arkell Museum in Canajoharie they show numbers up quite a bit."
She said they reported visitors from as far away as Germany and France.
"Most of the numbers are up for museums and forts also," she said.
Sue Maye at America's Best Inn in Amsterdam said her out-of-town customers were down somewhat and blamed the higher gas prices for that.
"Businesses are hiring closer to home so we don't get as many contractors and construction workers staying here as we used to," Maye said.
She said spin-off from Auriesville Shrine activities and repeat customers from previous years stays were helping keep her numbers steady.
At Pine Lake Park, owner Bill Houck said his campsites were near capacity.
"If we were at 95 percent capacity last year, we're at 99 percent this year," Houck said.
Houck said of his 165 sites, only two were vacant.
"We've had five-fold the calls for tent sites this year as last," he said. "There's been a big upsurge in tenting. People just don't want to haul those big R-Vs around with gas this high."
Richard Nilsen is a general assignment reporter and can be reached at ga@leaderherald.com.
|
Bill
|
|
|---|---|
|
07-20-08 10:20 AM
|
Nice story, keep it up I enjoyed the read
|