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PRESS RELEASE:  June 24, 2010
Contact:  Teresa Mitchell, 315-646-1000

"New Look" Great Lakes Seaway Trail Road Show Reveals Good Economic News

The new look for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail America’s Byway in New York and Pennsylvania.

Sackets Harbor, NY –  The new look Great Lakes Seaway Trail has been revealed and good economic impact news along with it.

On a 3-day, 6-stop tour, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Reveal and Economic Development road show unveiled a new look for the 32-year-old, 518-mile byway that leisurely parallels the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania.

“The Great Lakes enhanced name and new look for the Seaway Trail has refreshed interest in this unique 518-mile freshwater byway system by local, domestic and international visitors and by those who travel for various theme reasons such as maritime heritage, military history, nature and birdwatching, cultural America and outdoor recreation,” said Seaway Trail, Inc. President and CEO Teresa Mitchell.

Business owners, tourism and community leaders, highway officials, regional residents, and travelers attended events to celebrate the Seaway Trail’s history as one of America’s Byways, a National Recreation Trail, a New York and Pennsylvania Bike Route, and an AAA “quintessential road trip” and to share their renewed excitement about the natural, scenic, historic, recreational and cultural economic engine that runs through 86 freshwater shoreline communities.

The executive officers of the not-for-profit Seaway Trail, Inc. based in Sackets Harbor, took their “location – location – location byway brand” message of good economic news to Ogdensburg, Sackets Harbor, Webster, and Niagara Falls, NY and Erie, PA.

Seaway Trail, Inc. Chairman and Pulaski, NY, businessman Charles Krupke said, “In the past five years, Seaway Trail, Inc. has received and completed $1.2 million in federal scenic byway project-based grants and currently has more Trailwide federally-funded economic initiatives underway.”

“The Great Lakes Seaway Trail partners with local businesses, groups and municipalities to enhance the visitor experience through programming that invites interest in the 11-county, two-state region as a complete travel experience,” said Seaway Trail, Inc. Vice-Chair John Hall, a principal with Cannon Design, Grand Island, NY.

“The new rallying call to tourists is that Great Lakes Seaway Trail can be traveled in your time, at your pace, in your style. There is a diversity of travel experience to be found here and Seaway Trail, Inc. has set the model for byway development for the other America’s Byways across the United States,” said Great Lakes Seaway Trail Secretary David G. White, a coastal recreation and tourism specialist with New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY.

A variety of speakers highlighted Great Lakes Seaway Trail theme and activity-based projects. In Sackets Harbor, NY, and appropriate to June’s recent Presidential proclamation as Great Outdoors Month, Diane Kuehn, an outdoor recreation and ecotourism assistant professor with the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, outlined recent survey results and opportunities to enhance the byway as a bicycle touring destination.

At Webster, NY, east of Rochester, Great Lakes Seaway Trail GeoTrail developer Jim Hooper detailed the new high-tech treasure hunting adventure that will draw GPS users to the byway in search of 75 hidden caches that will debut later this summer with five newly-minted, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Geo-Coins available to those most successful at finding the byway-branded caches.

A new Circle the Great Lakes War of 1812 traveler guidebook, brochure and matching Great Lakes Seaway Trail “outdoor storyteller” interpretive signs are in development. Mitchell told audiences that marketing the byway’s cultural, military and maritime heritage is aimed at 118 million adults that participate in cultural or heritage activities when traveling and spend an average of $994 per trip (US Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council study).

Seaway Trail, Inc. has recently published “Waterways of War: A Traveler’s Guide to 19 French and Indian War Forts and Battlefields along America’s Byways in New York and Pennsylvania” and a “Great Lakes Seaway Trail Birding” field guide that are generating revenues for Seaway Trail member sites, bookstores and gift shops Trailwide, including the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center Gift Shop at the organization’s headquarters in Sackets Harbor, NY.

The byway leaders invited interest in Great Lakes Seaway Trail program partnership opportunities and membership in Seaway Trail, Inc. Hall said, “All of these Great Lakes Seaway Trail initiatives and other efforts are making a positive return on the investment made in the byway by our member businesses, corporate partners, the federal National Scenic Byway program, and, in past years, by the New York State legislature,” said Hall. “These projects not only bring economic benefit to our communities, they make both our urban and rural areas more livable and inviting.”

For more information, contact Great Lakes Seaway Trail, PO Box 660, Ray & West Main St, Sackets Harbor, NY, 315-646-1000, www.seawaytrail.com. #

Positive Economic Impact Numbers for the Great Lakes Seaway Trail

• Employment and Tax Revenues in NY: According to Empire State Development statistics for 2009, 77,536 persons are employed in tourism in the Great Lakes Seaway Trail’s 10 New York counties and tourism spending in those counties generated $449 million in state and local tax revenue.

• Federal Scenic Byway-Funded Projects: In the past 5 years, Seaway Trail, Inc. has received and completed $1.2 million in federal scenic byway project-based grants.

• Agri-Tourism: A Year 2000 survey by New York Sea Grant and Cornell University estimated the gross income value of 1,020 Great Lakes Seaway Trail region-related agritourism businesses at $10.3 million. ($10,339,900, includes businesses south of the byway in the Finger Lakes region) (Agri-Tourism in New York: Management and Operations)

• Bed & Breakfasts and Inns:  A 2002 survey by New York Sea Grant, Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension, SUNY ESF, and the Northern New York Travel and Tourism Research Center, showed 489 Great Lakes Seaway Trail region-related B&Bs and inns with an averaged total income of more than $28.7 million. ($28,754,667.00, includes businesses south of the byway in the Finger Lakes region) (B&Bs and Inns: Results of the 2002 New York State Survey)

• Birding: A 2006 update to the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Related Recreation indicated there are $47.6 million birders in the U.S. They impact the American economy to the tune of $82.17 billion, including $6.15 billion in state tax revenues. (US Fish and Wildlife Service Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis)

• Boating: In the first-of-its-kind study to directly measure expenditures related to recreational boating in NY, New York Sea Grant and Cornell University researchers found that New York’s recreational boaters spent $2.4 billion in 2003 despite a poor weather summer… Of that total, $600 million was spent in the NY regions bordering the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes. (Recreational Boating Expenditures in 2003 in New York State and Their Economic Impacts)

• Charter Fishing: A 2002-03 Great Lakes Sea Grant Network analysis of the charter fishing industry in the Great Lakes region estimated the total sales impact of charter fishing services in New York’s Great Lakes Seaway Trail region at $7 million. (The Great Lakes Charter Fishing Industry in 2002)

• Cultural and Heritage Travel: The first study to segment cultural and heritage tourists in the U.S. – conducted by Mandala Research for the US Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council — shows t78 percent of all American leisure travelers – a group of 118.3 million adults -  participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling and spend an average of $994 per trip. They took an average of 5.01 leisure trips in the past 12 months and almost half of the most recent overnight leisure trips were 500 miles or more from home. In addition to attending historic re-enactments (64%) and visiting historic sites (66%), 45 percent of cultural and heritage travelers are more likely to enjoy fine dining and food and wine festivals and farmers’ markets; 54 percent visit art galleries/museums; 36 percent enjoy beaches; and 30 percent explore urban neighborhoods. (U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council report)

• Freshwater Scuba Diving: A New York Sea Grant, SUNY Cortland and Penn State study of the economic impact of scuba diving on NY’s Great Lakes region showed scuba divers represent an economic impact of more than $108 million to NY’s St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie shoreline communities, spending $61 million/year on boat & auto fuel, lodging & food, etc. and $47 million on diving-related expenditures in New York’s Great Lakes Seaway Trail region. (Economic Impacts of Scuba Diving on New York’s Great Lakes, 1999)

• Geocaching: The Great Lakes Seaway Trail GeoTrail high-tech treasure hunting adventure debuts, with sites in each of the byway’s 11 counties, in 2010. Geocaching.com estimates there are 4-5 million geocachers worldwide who use hand-held GPS systems to locate treasure boxes for fun. (www.geocaching.com)

• Sportfishing: A New York Sea Grant-Cornell University study of the economic contribution of sportfishing to New York State showed that the freshwater region represented by the waters of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail accounted for a contribution of 11,900 jobs and $2,267 billion in terms of 1999 dollars. (The Economic Contribution of Sport Fishing, Commercial Fishing and Seafood Industries to New York State)

• US Travel Association The Power of Travel Data Center: The most recent (2006) numbers from the US Travel Association “The Power of Travel” Data Center for the US Congressional Districts of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail show an economic impact of domestic and international travel in the region (Districts 23, 25, 26, 27, and 28, including inland sections of Erie, Monroe, Niagara and Orleans counties) of $8,205.5 billion in spending and $1,840.9 billion in payroll. (The Power of Travel Data Center, US Travel Association)

Quick Facts about the Great Lakes Seaway Trail:

• Scenic driving route in New York state since 1978

• Federally designated as an America’s Byway (1996) and a National Recreation Trail (1980-81)

• Includes 86 communities and 11 counties [St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga, Wayne, Monroe, Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua (NY) and Erie (PA)] in two states (NY, PA)

• Recognized for intrinsic scenic, natural, recreational, historic, cultural and archaeological qualities

• Travel themes for the byway include:
  ~ Birding
  ~ Bicycling     
  ~ Boating, canoeing, kayaking…
  ~ Diving and shipwrecks       
  ~ Lighthouses
  ~ Leisure driving
  ~  War of 1812
  ~ French and Indian War
  ~ Architecture
  ~ Coastal agricultural bounty & heritage
  ~ Family Travel
  ~ Camping
  ~ Cultural heritage & famous Americans: Lucille Ball, Frederic Remington, George Boldt, Harriett Tubman, aviation pioneer Curtis Bell, George Eastman, Susan B. Anthony, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Seward…
  ~ Winery touring: 4 wine trails parallel or intersect the byway
  ~ Original foods dining: Buffalo wings, 1812 Ale, French’s Mustard, Jell-O, shore dinners, beef on ‘weck, Heluva Good and River Rat cheese, Smith’s on the Grill (Erie, PA) and Zweigle’s (Rochester, NY) hot dogs, 1000 Islands Dressing, Welch’s Grape Juice, Abbott’s Frozen Custard…
  ~ Four seasons of outdoor fun including snow sports
  ~ And the Great Lakes Seaway Trail GeoTrail: New for 2010!