Tourism is about travel, vacations, relaxation and enjoyment. It is also about the business of supplying the needs and desires of tourists. In spite of businesses being half of the equation, the supply side of tourism has seldom been systematically examined in the Adirondacks. One exception is Tommy Brown and Nancy Connelly’s study of Adirondack tourism fifteen years ago (1984). That research found that "tourism can be justified to be the leading industry in the Park" and that "the retail and service sectors of the economy are highly dependent on tourism" (Brown & Connelly 1984:66). Although the concept of has not often discussed in regards to Adirondack tourism, many experts have recently argued that entrepreneurial support constitutes a crucial dimension of tourism development (Ioannides and Debbage 1998, Jafari 1989, and Shaw and Williams 1998).

Entrepreneurship and small business are major forces to be reckoned with in the tourism landscape of the Adirondacks. They represent a diversity of interests, products and services that can not be captured by economic valuations, visitor numbers, or regional marketing programs and promotional materials. However, locally owned businesses that predominate in the study communities seldom wield the same kind of political weight as large corporations and regional organizations. By identifying their characteristics, experiences and observations of the business operator this research has laid the groundwork and first steps of a community-based Adirondack tourism planning program consisting of needs assessment, plan development and plan implementation.

This section provides a view of the characteristics of small businesses in the Adirondacks that has seldom if ever been accessible. The percentages presented below are based on the 258 completed questionnaires received in the Fall of 1998. Those 258 businesses represent approximately 28 percent of the identified businesses in the study communities of the central and western Adirondacks. The response rates for all the business demographic questions are presented in Appendix C and summarized below.

The business operators were asked to rank their profitability in 1997 as compared to the three prior years in an attempt to evaluate local trends in the tourism industry. The findings show a small increase in profitability, only slightly above the median value of four, which indicates "about the same" as the past three years.

In looking at changing profitability by community area, the North Creek, Old Forge, Inlet and Indian Lake areas indicate higher than average profitability, while the other four community areas reported less than average profitability. The average response for Star Lake was actually below the median response category, indicating declining profitability.

The question on profitability was followed up with an open-ended question on why the business operator thought profitability was better or worse than in prior years. Those written responses are presented at Appendix A. It proves very illuminating to read the reasons why some operators saw an improvement in business and others saw a decline. In general, those who saw an improvement in business tended to attribute that improvement to some action they took to improve their business. "We worked harder at it", "We improved our service", "We advertised better", and "We raised our prices" are representative of the type of reasons offered by many business owners. There were a few who attributed the positive change to external forces such as a better economy, better weather, and an increase in the number of visitors to the area, however, those comments were in the minority.

On the other hand, those business operators who saw a decline in profitability generally tended to attribute that decline to outside forces beyond their control. For example, too much competition, poor economy, poor snow conditions, bad weather, taxes too high, and lack of activities and attractions for visitors are representative of the comments made by that group of operators.

While this difference of opinion on what is influencing business profitability does not explain business success in and of itself, it does indicate the importance of an entrepreneurial spirit represented by hard work, an ability to change, and a willingness to take chances. While the economy, taxes, government regulations and the weather have varying degrees of influence on fluctuations in a tourism economy, those business owners experiencing an increase in profitability seem to recognize that building a successful business depends in large part on themselves.

Having future plans provides an indicator of willingness to change and a desire for the business to grow and improve. When asked about their business plans, close to one-half (48% or 107 respondents) responded that they anticipate changing the character or improving the quality of their business in the next few years. In terms of business retention and expansion, the perceptions and views of that set of business operators carry added weight, since they appear to be most committed to growing and expanding their businesses. The response rates for that group of business operators are noted in the remainder of section when they differ significantly from the response rates for the entire group of study participants. They are referred to below as the "motivated" entrepreneurs.

We asked the business operators to consider what percentage of their total gross income they would allocate to three groups of customers: full-time residents, seasonal residents and tourists. Just over one-half (53%) of gross sales were attributed to tourists and visitors. The remainder was split roughly between full-time (23%) and seasonal residents (22%). Those findings are influenced somewhat by the lodging sector that comprises one-third of all responding businesses. To account for that influence, the following table provides a breakdown by business type. The lodging businesses reported 84% of gross income from tourists, while the average for all businesses was only 53%. Retailers and food and beverage establishments realize about 40% of their gross income from tourists. Seasonal residents are viewed as most beneficial economically to retailers, supplying just over one-third of gross income, while full-time residents comprise a large proportion of food and beverage sales, at 31% of gross income. It should be remembered that these percentages are by their nature approximate allocations, based as they are on the impressions and recall of the business operators.

Over all, business owners in the study area have a positive view on the changing importance of tourism to their local economies during the 1990s. On a seven point from decreasing to increasing importance, the responding businesses that the changing importance falls midway between no change and increasing in importance. While all the communities agree that the importance of tourism is increasing, they do differ in the degree of change. For example, the North Creek and Old Forge-area businesses reported the greatest change in the importance of tourism, while the Tupper Lake and Long Lake-area businesses reported a lower increase in importance. A few business operators responded that "tourism is our economy" and they wished that business owners and government officials were more aware of it.

The business operators also assessed change in over-all community quality of life during the 1990s, using a scale of one to seven (much worse to much better). On that measure, the respondents were not quite as positive. In their view, the quality of life has stayed generally about the same. The North Creek and Old Forge areas reported the most postive change in quality of life, though not far off the average; while Tupper Lake, Speculator and Star Lake business operators reported a declining quality of life during the 1990s.

When asked about the percentage of tourists falling into different age groups, businesses owners reported that couples with children were the most common family category, comprising about 35% of visitors. Couples with children were also the group perceived to be increasing the most over the past three years. One respondent from Indian Lake expressed frustration with the question because she notices that each season in the Adirondacks attracts a different group: winter and spring attracts young singles, summer attracts families with children, while fall attracts couples without children and retired couples. Other tourist segments that business operators mentioned include older singles, corporate meetings, and international travelers.

We asked business operators to look at a list of 19 possible influences on vacation decision-making and to evaluate their area on its strengths and weaknesses in attracting visitors in terms of those influences. On a regional basis, the "ability to accommodate tour buses" was selected most often as a weakness in attracting visitors. Other weaknesses selected most often include "directional signage for services", "history and culture learning opportunities", "advertising outside the area", "parking" and "museums."

The business operators then selected the two items from the list that were most important for their area to try and improve on over the next few years. The four that came up on those lists most often were: advertising and promotion outside the area, Spring and Fall recreation opportunities, over-night accommodations and the variety of shops and stores. Looking a priority weaknesses to address by community area, there are some differences worth noting. For example, in the North Creek and Indian Lake areas, they both see a need for better advertising and promotion of their area. That is useful information since the two communities are currently linked by Hudson River rafting activities. Speculator and Star Lake also share a priority action item, that of improving the availability of overnight accommodations. They represent the small, remote Adirondack community that sees a need off-season accommodations to hold visitors over-night and to accommodate larger groups such as on tour busses.

One main topic of interest to community and economic development organizations is how to better capitalize on the outdoor recreation-related tourism that comprises a major portion of the tourism activity in the Adirondacks. As one step in that assessment, the business operators indicated how important ten different outdoor recreation activities are in terms of the contribution to their area’s economy. Not surprisingly, viewing scenery was recognized as the most important activity. Nationally, sightseeing is among the most popular tourism activities. What may be surprising is that snowmobiling was selected as the next most important activity, economically. The order of the next three is also very interesting, with canoeing and kayaking as third in importance among the activities listed. Especially surprising is that cross-country skiing is viewed as equal in economic value to hiking.

On a more general note, we asked the business operators about their level of agreement with ten different statements on tourism. The statements represent a variety of common beliefs about tourism, some negative and some positive. Four of the statements attracted the strongest sentiments. On the strongly agree side of the scale, the respondents believe that word of mouth advertising is the most important form of advertising. In that belief they concur with the majority of tourism research on advertising shows that "word of mouth" is the most effective form of advertising. What research doesn’t show is that it is also a cost efficient form of advertising, costing little or nothing to offer quality products at a reasonable price, display products attractively, and to provide service in a pleasant manner.

Following directly on that belief is the view that the main tourism goal for their area is to provide a "quality" experience to visitors. Although quality is not far above quantity on the scale, its higher ranking is a positive sign in terms of business development. The third shared viewpoint in the agree to strongly agree category is that the environment is a main attraction in the area. That particular view of business operators is not always shared by the tourism promotion organizations. Key informant interviews with some of the tourism organization directors found limited recognition of the environment as a main tourism engine for the Adirondack Park.

On the disagree to strongly disagree side of the scale, one item appears significant and that is that "tourism is taking away from the character of my community." The business operators seem to feel that tourism and tourism activities are an integral part of life in their communities.

Finally, in this section on the current status of tourism in the region, one of the focus group topics centered on tourism identities. The sixty-five workshop participants in seven communities discussed appropriate tourism themes for their area and offered their thoughts on the best themes or identities to promote tourism, both locally and regionally. There was not attempt to reach consensus in the focus groups and indeed there was very little consensus on the topic of tourism identities. If a general theme did emerge on tourism identities it might be summarized as one participant stated it: "place to relax and have an outdoor experience." Words commonly used to describe local tourism identifies include: lakes, wilderness, camping, four-season, recreation, quite, and scenic beauty. In terms of the best themes for promoting the Adirondacks as a whole, commonly mentioned descriptors include: recreation, natural beauty and wilderness.

The workshop participants also evaluated the importance of two broad themes offered by the researchers (Adirondacks and North Country) and nine themes representing different characteristics of the region. While the term "Adirondacks" was rated very high, "North Country" was viewed as not important to promoting the area. The most important characteristics identified in the focus groups were "mountains" and "waterways," followed by communities, wildlife and forests. The themes rated least important by the participants were "high peaks" and "heritage." "History & culture" and "arts and crafts" were ranked as somewhat important.