Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, center, visits Lake Placid in October 2020 to meet with Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall (left) and Regional Office Sustainable Tourism Chief of Staff Mary Jane Lawrence to discuss economic recreation and tourism to discuss. (Company Photo – Elizabeth Izzo)

Tourism is a big part of the Nordland’s economy, and it’s been a little over a year since the coronavirus pandemic changed almost everything about it here. The Canadian border closed, interstate travel dried up, and what visitors were looking for changed drastically.

But the region fared better than expected by the regional tourist offices and even opened up new markets.

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A “closed” spring

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“This is kind of a new message for the travel industry, you know, don’t come here!”

Last spring, for the first time in Mary Jane Lawrence’s career in tourism, she asked people to stay home.

Lawrence is the Chief Operating Officer of ROOST, the regional office for sustainable tourism. ROOST has offices in all of the Adirondacks. Lawrence works from the main office in Lake Placid. She says COVID-19 has slowed tourism overall. “We screeched to a halt in March, April, May and even June. We were closed. I mean it wasn’t slow, we were closed. “

The coronavirus and New York on PAUSE orders saw people staying home, shops closed, and very little movement in terms of travel, especially when the Canadian border was closed. And that was scary for a region that is so dependent on tourism.

But then things started to revive. Lawrence says July 4th was a turning point. “We have seen trips that we did not expect. We saw a lot of new people in the region.”

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Summer boom and new visitors

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As it turned out, New Yorkers still wanted to travel in the summer. But if they weren’t ready to brave airports and quarantines, they had to be in a state to drive in, preferably with low infection rates and lots of outdoor activities.

Lawrence says the north country ticked all the boxes. People came, albeit late, to places like the Adirondacks, Champlain Valley, and the Thousand Islands.

In Alexandria Bay, Cindy Durand runs the seasonal Rockledge Motel with 20 rooms. 2020 was their three year anniversary, and Durand says it was the first year they did less than the year before. Their tradition has always been to open for Memorial Day Weekend in late May. “But we haven’t opened to Memorial Day Weekend for the first time in 29 years.” says Durand. Instead, they opened on June 10th.

Overall, their revenues were cut in half in 2020, with a busy late summer making up for spring somewhat. “I have to say, August last year was probably one of our best months of August ever.” said Durand.

And the longstanding tourism trends were completely disrupted. The big one that the Rockledge Motel saw firsthand consisted of visitors.

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Where did the visitors come from?

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Durand says the Rockledge had mostly New York license plates and a lot of first-time visitors. “People came up to us and said, ‘Oh my god, this is the first time we’ve been to Alexandria Bay!”

These first-time visitors were so important because international travel was impossible and the Canadian border was closed. Kristy Kennedy is the Tourism Director of the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, located on Lake Champlain. Usually Quebec tourists are their bread and butter.

“They make up 80% of our tourism market. We target most of our campaigns around them, they are a huge part of our audience. “

A crucial part of the audience. When they lost Canadians, Kennedy turned their marketing focus to the Capitol area of ​​New York in hopes of attracting new audiences there. And they found it. It wasn’t a record year, but New Yorkers came and stayed spending money.

“We wanted to open up to new markets and that kind of thing gave us an opportunity. I am in tourism! I want to think this was an opportunity to grow. “

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Strong summer, autumn and winter made the difference

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A solid summer rolled into a strong fall and a really strong winter. ROOST’s Mary Jane Lawrence says the good weather definitely played in favor of the region. “I mean, the weather was absolutely perfect all summer and into autumn. And in our winter we just had an enormous amount of snow. “

According to Lawrence, the rest of the year helped make up for the spring losses, particularly in terms of housing.

Essex County offers a snapshot: property taxes fell in 2020 – but only by 8%. Not great, but not the expected disaster either. “We’ve definitely had a strong season in the Adirondacks compared to what we expected.”

Of course, things weren’t even 8% down the line across the board. Lawrence says, by and large, the industry can be said to have been fine. However, the success or failure of individual companies varied greatly. “People are different, and so are companies!” Some businesses flourished while others crowded.

According to Lawrence, high-end hotels and short-term vacation rentals – including AirBnBs – have fared very well compared to smaller lodging establishments.

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The rise of the single-family vacation home

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The Barkeater Inn in Keene has seen both sides of that coin, says Megan Kirkpatrick, who runs the inn. “There has been a certain shift in where guests stay more often.”

Kirkpatrick and partner Tyler Nichols say the bar theater’s standalone booths were more popular than their six-room inn. The smaller of the staterooms, a honeymoon-style one-bedroom stateroom, has been fully booked for months. “There is a certain sense of security when people can check themselves in. And [the cabin], it’s booked! And it’s never booked at this time of year! Like back to back to back to back. “

The inn lost most of its event revenue and was closed for months last spring. Fortunately, they survived the storm. “It wasn’t our best year ever, but we have been able to ride the waves, be adaptable and welcome guests who come to the area.”

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Looking ahead to the 2021 season

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Back at ROOST, Mary Jane Lawrence looks to the coming summer season. You and other regional tourism professionals are cautiously optimistic.

“You know, all the signs are that people are booking early, people are still looking for the outdoor experience, the fresh air and the open spaces. Getting to places is still at the top of the travel list. “

They expect more visitors from New York and the neighboring states. If the Canadian border reopens, that would be the cherry on top. I asked when Lawrence thought things were going to go back to normal and her answer was that things probably aren’t. The pandemic has changed people and tourism must be responsible for it.

“You know, people talk about moving forward. How will people feel when they move forward? It’s hard to go from stop to sprint. People will live in this world that they don’t want to be in and don’t want to be around crowds of people who want to wear a mask. And some people will say, okay, I’m done, let’s go! And then there will be an interim period. “

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