About the Destinations of New York State Scholarship

The Program: The Destinations of New York State Scholarship Program awards $10,000 in tuition and internship scholarships (see 2024 recipients below). Each year, NYSTIA's Scholarship Committee meets and reviews applications and selects the award recipients from the field of applicants. Applicants must be students in good standing who are residents of New York State studying tourism-related degree programs at New York State colleges and universities.

The Fund: The scholarship fund, 100% supported by the membership of NYSTIA, is fiscally maintained by the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan Counties (CFOS), a 501c(3) charitable organization. Contributions are tax-deductible. CFOS awards the grants directly to the college, university or institution involved.

2024 Scholarship Recipients:

• Sarah Walters - Niagara University 
• Samantha Phillips - Rochester Institute of Technology 
• Carter Benedict - Rochester Institute of Technology 
• Tracey McKinney - Monroe Community College
• Lydia Hulbert - SUNY SCCC 

Applications have closed for 2025. The Scholarship Committee will be convening soon to select the next year's recipients.

- Brooke Wilson, Stewardship Initiatives Coordinator

How Does Tourism Impact Your County?

Help Us Test Drive Our Map-App

It's a work in progress, and we want your feedback*! Explore how tourism benefits your county directly with our new interactive map.

Each county on the map is linked to a summary of how tourism positively impacts it from a sending, standard of living and quality of life perspective. And you’ll find a link to a downloadable, easy-to-share, two-page PDF with data for each county - perfect for sharing with stakeholders and supporting tourism advocacy in your community. We want to thank ESD/I LOVE NY & Tourism Economics for access to the economic data, the NYSTIA Advocacy and Marketing Committees for guidance, and the team at Corporate Communications for developing this new feature. Access the Map-App.

*Share your comments and feedback to marketing@nystia.org.

Ditch the Clicks! Impress Your Board with Real Metrics

Join Jonathan Keslow from Epsilon to learn about metrics to impress your board and bosses! In a world of KPIs, CTR's , VRS’s, ROAS, understanding your marketing’s real impact may have you saying, “IDK.” Click based metrics, while providing surface level insights into user engagement, often fail to capture the holistic impact of your market efforts for your destination.

Learn More & Register

Recap: New Advocacy Tool: 'Tourism Done Right' Presentation Slide Deck

Last week, Bob Provost, President & CEO of the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA) took us through the highly-effective talking points of his customizable presentation deck, with statistics and perspectives that help members secure continued and/or increased funding for tourism marketing. View the slide deck and recording

NYSTIA Virtual Holiday Party

December 18, 2025 at 3 PM

Door prizes, networking & fun! Save the date - details coming soon!

• Former Chair of the New York State Tourism Industry Association and NYSTIA Advocacy Committee member Josiah Brown shares his 15 takeaways from attending and speaking at the 2024 Destinations International Advocacy Summit in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Josiah will also be presenting his takeaways on the November 27th NYSTIA Wednesday Webinar.
• Download our Tourism: It's Everybody's Business logo
• An additional 12 million days of travel could mean a $1.9 billion boost for local tourism. Take Action! Join our statewide initiative!

NYSTIA is committed to bolstering your advocacy efforts with the new and improved NYSTIA Advocacy Action Center! Do you have an advocacy action that needs to be shared? Please contact us!

Please welcome Jessie McNaughton, organizer of the NY Fiber Trail, to the NYSTIA community! The NY Fiber Trail is a statewide self-guided tour of yarn shops, fiber farms, textile studios and mills, highlighting all the vibrant and varied fiber-based experiences and businesses that NYS has to offer.

Jessie organizes and promotes the NY Fiber Trail, giving free marketing & promotion to 80+ fiber-based small businesses...

Meet Jessie

"On May 31, 2025 I will have completed 40 fulfilling years at this unique job as director of tourism in this wonderful county, region and state. I am writing to share that I plan to retire from my position as President of FLVC next year on May 31, 2025. Little did I know 40 years ago, that I’d have such a fulfilling and fun career. I feel like my career has been a merger of the themes of two of Dr. Suess books – “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” – and – “If I Ran the Zoo.” More on that later!..."

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NYSTIA's DREAMSCAPES Content Marketing Initiative will reach a print audience of 260,000 adults (all subscribers of The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper; and NEW in 2024 the Toronto Star, to subscribers in high-income areas across Canada’s largest metropolitan city).

Each issue of DREAMSCAPES is accessible online in its entirety with links to advertisers’ sites. DREAMSCAPES is also available on several digital newsstand sites, including Apple, Google Play, PocketMags.com and PressReader.com, reaching a total of 204,000 unique visitors and digital newsstand readers!

Learn More & Sign Up

Let us help you increase tourism by participating in the Winter 2024/2025 Getaway/Activity Planner! In addition to your ad visibility, receive Bonus Content with a 50 word listing on your brand with your logo and link to your website. This is included in the 6-month ad buy starting at $475 for a Medium ad for 6 months. DUNY's Winer coverage includes the Ski Central Snow Report. Check out the Fall Getaway Pages to preview the Winter section concept. A Home Page drop-down ad will alert all viewers of the Winter Planner. Don't miss out on reaching 80,000+ viewers planning a trip Upstate New York this winter. Contact Madelyn Roberts for more information on sharing your brand's winter adventure.



Learn More & Sign Up!

No new job postings have been submitted this week, but be sure to view the open positions on our NYS Tourism Careers Page.

Take the Tourism Advocacy Survey | Share your DEAI Case Study

Take the New DEAI Survey | Submit a Workshop Proposal

Be a 2025 Tourism Champion

WHAT WE DO TOGETHER:

Advancing responsible, sustainable economic growth, community revitalization, small business success, job creation, quality of life and pride of place by realizing the potential of New York State's tourism industry and facilitating the success of NYSTIA members.