 New York City Suburbs & Hudson Valley area updates:
(Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, and Bergen Counties)
Ritz Carlton Opens in White Plains, NY!
Cappelli Enterprises' Renaissance Square, a dramatic new
$400 million, 890,000-square-foot mixed-use complex under construction
in downtown White Plains, will feature the spectacular Ritz-Carlton,
Westchester Hotel and Residences scheduled to open in early 2008. The
Sales and Design Center is now open.
The Ritz-Carlton will include 123 rooms, 213 residences and 23
condominium-hotel units. Condominium residents will have access to the
hotel's services.
The hotel and residences will soar to 40 stories offering expansive
views of the Manhattan skyline, Long Island Sound and the Hudson
Valley. The hotel will feature a 10,000-square-foot luxury spa and fitness center, meeting and special event space and two
restaurants, one a winter garden at street level and the other on the
40th floor of the tower.
Renaissance Square will include nearly 11,000 square feet of
street-level retail/restaurant space as well as open space that will
help tie together the heart of the downtown. It will also have a
four-level 1,000-space parking garage. A second 40-story tower for
which a final layout is pending will be built as phase two of the
construction.
Latest release from the Westchester Office of Tourism:
TOURISM BOOMING IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Latest Data Indicates Strong Interest, High Rate of Return
White Plains, NY – You may not recognize one on the street, but tourists are visiting Westchester in droves, boosting the county’s economy with an impact of over $1 billion a year. New research collected by the Westchester County Office of Tourism sheds greater light on the economic effect of tourism, and provides a better understanding of visitor demographics.
Following are highlights from several sources that provide insight into the robust health of the local tourism industry.
STATEWIDE RESEARCH
In 2006, a “Tourism Economic Impact” study was released cooperatively by three statewide associations: the New York State Association of CVB’s (Convention and Visitors Bureaus); the Tourism Industry Coalition (TIC); and the Empire State Development Corporation. The report from Tourism Economics (a unit of Oxford Economics USA based in Philadelphia) provided statewide statistics and a short regional breakdown. Some key figures include:
_ Westchester County represented nearly 60% (the most of any other county) of the Hudson Valley region’s tourism sales, with over $3.4 billion in visitor-driven expenditures. Dutchess County represented 14%; Orange County accounted for 12%, and Rockland County represented 10%. Columbia County and Putnam County represented 3% and 2% respectively. Tourism in the Hudson Valley region at large generated over $5.7 billion.
_ Westchester represented the largest share in total direct visitor spending in the Hudson Valley region, with over $1.9 billion.
_ Westchester represented nearly 46% of the region’s tourism employment, with 16,946 direct tourism jobs.
LOCAL VISITOR PROFILE
In the second half of 2006, the Office of Tourism contracted with the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) at SUNY Plattsburgh to conduct two research studies; one on consumer travel into Westchester and one on motorcoach group travel. Visitors and tour operators who traveled to Westchester in 2005 were surveyed. The resulting data provided significant demographics about the county’s main travel markets, including average length of stay, most-visited attractions, geographical origin, mode of travel, age, etc.
Tourists to Westchester are affluent, well-educated and generally senior travelers who repeatedly visit the county, frequently to visit friends and family in the area. TAC conservatively estimated the number of 2005 visitors (leisure travel only) to be approximately 1.6 million. Additional data from this survey of recent visitors reveals:
_ The average annual income of respondents was more than $93,643.
_ Approximately one-third of all respondents visited for day trips. 31% stayed in hotels and 27% with family and friends.
_ The average daily expenditures were $430 per party; the average length of stay was 2.4 nights.
_ 94% of the respondents indicated that they planned to visit the region in the future, with 71% planning on visiting within one year.
_ The five most-visited attractions were The Westchester (shopping center); Playland Amusement Park; Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate; Hudson River Museum; and Lyndhurst.
_ 75% indicated that the travel information they received from the Westchester County Office of Tourism reinforced or enhanced their travel plans to the county, while 18% were inspired to take a trip that they had not previously planned.
“Each and every relative that comes to Westchester for a visit, even for a weekend, supports the tourism industry and the larger economy,” said Margo Jones, Director of the Westchester County Office of Tourism. “Our mission is to entice them to stay longer, visit more sites, and recommend us to their friends back home.”
MOTORCOACH GROUPS
Tour operators continue to be interested in Westchester County as a destination for tour groups. The TAC study reported the most popular types of tours into Westchester incorporated history and heritage themes as well as tours to specific area events. Of those who responded to the survey, almost half provide senior-age day trips, and the majority brought tour buses carrying more than 20 passengers. Other important results included:
_ Sightseeing and cultural heritage attractions represented over 90% of the group activities engaged in by operators. Sixty-eight percent reported fall foliage as a popular itinerary activity.
_ Eighty-two percent indicated that their tours came to Westchester County in the fall season; 65% in the spring; 53% in the summer; and 18% in the winter.
_ Ninety-four percent of the operators indicated that their average length of stay in Westchester County was one day and 71% reported it as the final destination.
_ One hundred percent of the operators responding indicated that they carried seniors age 65 and over, while 88% also served the “Baby Boomer” market (age 35-64).
HOTEL STAYS
According to the Westchester County Department of Finance, $4,820,624.86 was collected from Westchester’s hotels and motels from the 3% Hotel Occupancy Tax. This revenue increased 2.9% over 2005, indicating growth in overnight stays at area accommodations.
The latest hotel occupancy data from Smith Travel Research indicated an 80% hotel occupancy rate in Westchester and Rockland counties combined in October 2006, a 4.2% increase over the same month in 2005.
WEB SITE USAGE
Reflecting the growing national trend of accessing travel information via the Web, Westchester County’s tourism website (www.westchestertourism.com) received 1,642,720 “page views” in 2006, a 22% increase over 2005.
The Westchester County Office of Tourism is part of the Office of Economic Development, and is recognized by the state as the county’s Official Tourism Promotion Agency. Phone: (800) 833-9282 or (914) 995-8500; e-mail: tourism@westchestergov.com; website: www.westchestertourism.com.
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