Photos Available: 2025 NYS Tourism Excellence Awards

Thank you again to the 220+ tourism industry professionals who joined us from across New York State, the USA, Canada, Europe and Ireland at the 2025 New York State Tourism Excellence Awards & Summit and the NYS 250 Commemoration Summit in Lake George!

View photos, recap, slides & more

There's $Billions in visitor spending locked up in New Yorkers' unused paid time off.

Join us at 10 AM on Friday, October 3rd as we launch 'Take Off New York'. This campaign, developed by the team at Fourth Idea, encourages employed New Yorkers to use their remaining 2025 paid time off (PTO) to explore nearby New York destinations. 
The preview presented at the New York State Tourism Excellence Summit received rave reviews! There is NO COST to participate.

Learn more & register for the virtual launch event here

Pro-bono campaign developed by 
Fourth Idea

for NYSTIA members

Tomorrow:

This free workshop, presented by David Brett from Wheresight, explores how you can identify and improve the digital readiness of the tourism businesses in your destination. We’ll walk through a practical framework to audit digital performance across your operator network, benchmark it effectively, and develop realistic plans for improvement even with limited resources.

Learn how to build digital capacity from the ground up to drive better results across your destination! Register Now for Free

Recap: For those of you who miss last week's Wednesday Webinar Community Branding: From Neighborhood to County with Black Dog LLC, you can access the full recording and slide deck here.

What Does Tourism Mean To Your County?

2024 NYS Visitor Spending Update

The county-level advocacy handouts accessible on the NYSTIA website have been updated with data from the 2024 Tourism Economics report commissioned by ESD / I LOVE NEW YORK. Access the handouts here.

The following data points are taken from the September 19 issue of City Guide NY:

🗺️ Canadian travel to the U.S. remains way off, declining for the seventh straight month. There are some surprises, however, seen in the chart above, including upticks for the UK, China, Japan, and Brazil. Mexico is another surprise, up 14% over last year. The decline in international travel is expected to continue past the summer, but Tourism Economics has trimmed its estimate on expected 2025 decline, to 8.2% against a 9.4%

🗽 NYC tourism is down but not out. Hotel occupancy is virtually unchanged from last year (85.6%) while the average daily room rate has increased, up to $406 for mid-September. Luxury accommodations are leading the way, per Vijay Dandapini, head of the Hotel Association of New York City. NYC's occupancy is the highest in the nation.

Will the Miss New York Scholarship Organization bring the media spotlight, extraordinary community engagement, and positive economic impact to your destination in 2026? Our 2025 event in Orange County garnered over 1.3 million social media views in just ten days! We invite you to review the attached RFP and submit your proposal ASAP.

View / download the RFP

Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the 2025 World Canals Conference has commenced in Buffalo, during the Erie Canal’s Bicentennial year. Bringing an international audience together of canal enthusiasts, historians, and waterway experts, the group will...

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Join this expert-led webinar, featuring NYSTIA's Bob Provost, to discover the hospitality industry can successfully implement workplace EV charging. Explore best practices, gain insights that will drive your community's sustainability goals forward, and get recognized by EVAL!

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It's that time of the year! New York’s brilliant fall foliage season is underway. Check out I LOVE NY’s highly-anticipated weekly foliage report and share it within your network!

View the Fall Foliage Report

Join now for the upcoming December/January '26 issue! This ILNY-branded section theme includes:

Annual NYS Parks + Historic Sites Destinations + America 250 Launch Section (only issue with Parks bonus content opportunity)

Reserve your space by October 1, 2025 

Learn More & Sign Up

Discover how to tap into the growing global travel market with the Inbound Insider: Steps to Success Online Program, developed by IITA and Alon Tourism Solutions.

This cost-effective training helps destinations, suppliers, and tourism professionals build international trade partnerships, develop market-ready products, and attract global visitors. Strengthen your readiness for America 250 and FIFA 2026—learn more today!

Learn More & Sign Up

The Visitor Experience Manager (VEM) is responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the visitor experience and operations of the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center (Heritage Center) and providing administrative leadership for the City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission (Commission). The VEM plays an integral role in the visitor...

Learn More & Apply - Deadline to Apply is October 14th. 

Become a Member | Join the Partnership Community

Volunteer at a 2025 Travel Show | Submit a Workshop Proposal

Be a 2025 Tourism Champion | New Yorkers: Take Your Vacation Toolkit