Destiny USA cited as a key factor

SYRACUSE — Visitor travel spending grew 3.5 percent in Onondaga County during 2012 compared to the previous year, according to a new report analyzing the impact of tourism in New York.

The Syracuse Convention & Visitors Bureau (SCVB) recently released details about the report, entitled Economic Impact of Tourism in New York.

Visitors to Onondaga County spent $791 million in 2012, up from $764 million the previous year, the report found.

“It’s a good indicator of what we’re seeing in terms of overall traffic, in terms of results,” says David Holder, president of the SCVB.

The $791 million in travel spending supports more than 16,700 jobs in Onondaga County and generates $103 million in tax revenue, according to the SCVB.

The factors that contributed to the increased travel-spending figure included the “improved” economic climate, Holder says.

“That meant more business travel and transient and general-leisure travel for Syracuse,” he says.

Holder also points to the expansion at Destiny USA, saying it’s attracting more Canadian visitors.

People in the Syracuse area see Destiny USA as a shopping center, a place to eat, and venue offering various forms of entertainment, such as a place to watch a movie, Holder says.

For visitors, it’s “a very different blend” of traditional retail, outlet-based retail, restaurants, and entertainment, he adds.

“And you put that into position with other things to offer in the community, it definitely has changed the people’s perceptions, potential-visitor perceptions of what Syracuse has to offer for a destination,” Holder says.

The increased travel spending has a local-tax impact, according to the SCVB.

The tourism-generated state and local sales-tax revenue in 2012 prevented the average household in Onondaga County from paying an additional $565 in annual taxes, the organization estimated.

In addition to the overall economy and an expanded Destiny USA, summertime events also attract travel-spending dollars, the organization said.

Events such as the Syracuse Nationals, which its website bills as the “largest car show in the Northeast,” is held at the New York State Fairgrounds and generates travel spending estimated at $13 million, the SCVB said.

The Ironman 70.3 Syracuse triathlon, which has attracted participants and visitors to Jamesville Beach Park annually since 2010, is estimated to generate travel spending of $2.3 million, according to the SCVB, and possibly much more.

“But we’ve been told over and over again by the Ironman officials that we are way conservative with that estimate,” Holder says.

Upcoming events that will generate travel spending for 2013 include the East Coast Professional Baseball Showcase at NBT Bank Stadium from July 31 to Aug. 3.

The event features 150 of the best high-school baseball players from the East Coast and draws hundreds of college coaches and Major League Baseball scouts. It’s estimated to produce travel spending at $1 million, according to the SCVB.

The 2013 Bassmaster Open Series is set Aug. 1 to Aug. 3 at Oneida Shores Park, and the Athleta Iron Girl Syracuse Women’s Triathlon is scheduled at the same venue on Aug. 4. The estimated travel spending between the two events is $3.5 million, the SCVB said.

The same report from Philadelphia–based Tourism Economics found that New York’s tourism economy grew about six percent in 2012, following an eight-percent expansion in 2011.

Statewide visitor spending reached a new high of $57.3 billion in 2012 “reaffirming that travel and tourism remains a vital and growing component of the New York state economy,” according to the SCVB news release.

The SCVB is also following some recommendations delivered in the 2012 Destination Market Analysis, which the Annandale, Va.–based Reach Market Planning, LLC prepared for the region.

The recommendations include working to generate more convention business at the Oncenter and efforts at what Holder called “community branding.”

“Make the word[s] Syracuse, Finger Lakes, Central New York … a true driving brand that people just build off of,” he says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com