The purpose of this study is to illuminate the experiences, perspectives and needs of business operators in the Adirondacks, especially as pertains to tourism. The goal is to obtain and present accurate information that will empower business, communities and organizations to better direct tourism activity for the good of Adirondack communities. A related goal is to offer locally grounded insights on how Adirondack Park-wide policies and activities could enhance the relationship between tourism, communities and the natural environment.

To fulfill the purpose and goals of the study, the study team concentrated on five main objectives:

1. Involve an local advisory committee with representatives from each study community who actively participate in planning, carrying out and reporting on the research.
2. Interview key individuals involved in tourism planning and promotion at local, sub-regional, Adirondack and New York State levels.
1. Complete a detailed questionnaire survey of business owners and operators in communities of the central and western Adirondack Park.
2. Host focus group workshops in the study communities as a reality check on the survey findings and to discuss local tourism issues in more detail.
3. Publish and widely distribute findings and recommendations that inform the interested public and that offer practical strategies for tourism planning at the community and regional level within the Adirondack Park.

The area encompassed by the border of the Adirondack Park is 5.8 million acres, making the park similar in size to each of six northeastern states, including Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland. However, its population of approximately 150,000 people is less than one-fourth of Vermont’s and considerably less than the other states. The Park covers 9,375 square miles, almost 100 by 100 miles in area. The Adirondack Park’s density of 19 people per square mile puts it more in the class of the large states out on the Great Plains and in the West, such as Nebraska or Utah (both having 21 people per square mile). The average population density in Upstate New York is 227 people per square mile.

There are 12 counties and 92 towns that are either wholly or partially in the Park. There are no cities in the Park, while there are 13 incorporated villages. There are 107 hamlets (including villages) within the Park having at least one retail service, with Saranac Lake the largest at 5,500 people (Brown & Connelly 1984). Average unemployment in the Park is 8.6% vs. 6.2% for New York as a whole. Per Capita income in 1989 was $11,200 for the Park, compared to $16,500 for the State of New York. About 14% of residents lived below poverty in 1990, compared to 9% for Upstate New York as a whole.

State or Local Government provides almost 33% of employment. According to one study, tourism accounts directly for at least 17% of all employment in the Adirondack Park, including total employment in eating and drinking establishments (Rockefeller Institute 1994). An unknown percentage of retail employment would also be dependent on tourism. Close to 7% of the employment in the Park is based in the paper, lumber and wood products sectors, compared to about 2% for the US as a whole.

Tourism activity in the Adirondack Park, in terms of number of people who visit the Park annually, is an unknown quantity. The wide variety of access points to the Adirondacks make an accurate estimate difficult to come by. There at least twelve major highways entering the park, including ferries and bridges linking to Vermont, Quebec and Ontario. Estimates of seven to ten million visitors a year in the Adirondack Park are common, but unsubstantiated.

There are a number of regional tourism organizations, devoted primarily to advertising and promotion, that cover large portions of the Park or groups of counties and communities. In addition, most counties have a tourism department responsible for developing promotional materials, and many communities have a Chamber of Commerce that devotes a significant portion of their time and finances to tourism promotion. Cooperative efforts for promoting larger areas of the Park appear to have become more successful in recent years, but efforts to coordinate tourism research and tourism planning have yet to occur. This research is in response to that recognized void. One of its purposes is to contribute to the initiation of cooperative tourism research and planning efforts for the Adirondack Park.

In May, 1998 researchers from Holmes & Associates and SUNY-Plattsburgh began work on a study of tourism in the Adirondack Park. The Wildlife Conservation Society provide a majority of the funding for the project, which was later supplemented by funding from the Adirondack Museum, the Resident’s Committee to Protect the Adirondacks, and the Adirondack Economic Development Corporation.

Realizing that not every question on tourism in the Adirondacks could be answered by this project, early-on decisions had to be made on limiting the scope of the project. The two major decisions on limiting the scope, which also enhanced its focus, were to concentrate on the views and observations of small business owners in the Adirondacks, and second, to target the central and western portions of the Adirondack Park. It is the researchers’ and others’ observation that the tourism information is most sketchy for small business owners in that portion of the Adirondack Park. Those decisions also were made in recognition of the financial and time constraints on the project. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations of this work would encourage further research on tourism in other portions of the Adirondack Park. Another line of reasoning was that a better understanding of the views of business owners would make subsequent research on tourists’ interests and experiences significantly more fruitful.

Given the lack of hard data or systematic research in regards to either tourism demand or supply, the research began with a series of interviews of tourism officials, owners, and professionals in order to identify prominent trends about tourism in the Adirondacks. A brief survey of 10 questions was administered to key tourism professionals. They were asked to identify trends, opinions, and issues concerning the state of tourism in the Adirondacks as shown in the protocol listed in Appendix D. In addition, a literature search was conducted to identify tourism related research and analysis.

Based in part on the findings from the interviews and literature review, the researchers developed a draft questionnaire and circulated it for review and comments among eighteen individuals with an interest in the tourism and the Adirondack Park. By July, the questionnaire was printed and on July 24, 1,053 10-page tourism questionnaires were mailed to the majority of businesses in the central and western Adirondacks. Each questionnaire was individual numbered to track responses by business and by community. By August 5, the first 100 completed questionnaires had been returned. On August 7, reminder post cards went out to each business and on September 11 – after the Labor Day holiday -- a second wave of questionnaires and a new cover letter went out to all non-respondents. On November 12, data entry ceased and analysis of the survey data began.

The percentages presented in the report are based on the 258 completed questionnaires received by the cut-off date. Those 258 businesses represent approximately 28 percent of identified businesses in the study communities of the central and western Adirondacks. Although we do not extrapolate the findings to all businesses in the study area, there is little reason to suspect that the averages for all businesses would differ significantly from those presented here. Most academic research on evaluating the differences between respondents and non-respondents to mail-out surveys finds very little variation between the two groups. However, the averages for the entire Adirondack Park -- were they available – might vary for some of the items because of more developed tourism economies represented by the Lake Placid and Lake George areas. For example, in the more developed tourism economies of the Adirondacks, business-related incomes, ownership turnover, and percentage of non-resident ownership likely would all be greater. In addition, recreation opportunities are different in the study area as compared to the High Peaks, along Lake Champlain, or at Lake George, therefore, these findings more generally apply to the central and western Adirondack Park.

In terms of the statistical precision of the findings for extrapolating the findings to all businesses in the study area, precision varies by sample size and not by response rate. A sample size of 258 has a standard statistical precision of plus or minus seven percent. One way to interpret the statistical precision of these findings is that for an item with a positive response by 57% of respondents, it is likely that as few as 50% or as many as 64% of all business operators in the study area would likely agree with that finding. Although statistical precision is based on the number of responses rather than the ratio of sample size to total population, it is important to be aware that this research used a 100% sampling approach, with almost every business in the study area receiving a questionnaire. The response rate of 28% thus corresponds to 28% of most businesses in the study communities, and given the research focus on tourism, an even greater proportion of all tourism businesses in the area are likely represented. In addition, two communities -- Indian Lake and Long Lake -- provided response rates of over one-third of all business, with Indian Lake’s approaching one-half of all businesses. According to research on the responsiveness of entrepreneurs, questionnaire response rates rarely exceed 27% for surveys of entrepreneurs sent out by non-membership organizations (Alpar & Spitzer 1989).

Focus group workshops were also an integral part of this research effort. Those group discussions, within seven of the study communities, served as a reality check on the survey findings and provided an opportunity for interested business owners and other to discuss local tourism issues in more detail than is possible with a questionnaire. An average of nine people attended each of the seven focus group workshops in Indian Lake, Inlet, North Creek, Old Forge, Speculator, Star Lake, and Tupper Lake.

The overall research objective of the focus groups was to identify what business owners and operators think about key tourism issues and options. The workshop outline is presented in Appendix D. The key subject areas covered were:

1. Local and Regional Tourism Identities
2. Preferred Tourism Actions
3. Possible Tourism Research Topics
4. Stewardship and the Environment

The meetings lasted 1.5 hrs and were either lunch or breakfast meetings in local restaurants. Discussion of each of the four topics lasted about 20 minutes. A 10 minute wrap-up provided closure to the session. Each topic was introduced with a one page hand-out that asked respondents to rank distinct topics or alternatives. Comments and discussion points were recorded on the hand-outs and on a flip chart. Every participant was asked to comment on each topic.

In total, the research integrated active local participation with professional survey analysis to provide meaningful and useful results for local tourism businesses and communities. This report provides a view of the characteristics of small businesses in the Adirondacks that has seldom if ever been accessible.

Following the Executive Summary and Introduction chapters, Chapter 3 provides an overview of the status of tourism in the Adirondack Park as can be discerned from the few research reports available on the topic. Chapter 4 is devoted to business operator survey respondents’ perceptions on the status of tourism and how tourism relates to their local economies. Many of the findings are presented by specific community areas so that differences between areas can be observed and compared to the average for all communities. Chapter 5 is on the future of tourism in the Adirondack Park, how the business operators view tourism opportunities and what steps they perceive should be taken to better integrate tourism with the communities, local economies and environment of the central and western Adirondack Park. The report concludes with conclusions and recommendations that expand on the overview of findings presented in the Executive Summary.