ELIZABETHTOWN — Destination planning by six Essex County communities is expected to boost future tourism, according to Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism President James McKenna.
Destination Master Plans for Ticonderoga, Moriah, Schroon Lake, Saranac Lake, Wilmington and Lake Placid, plus an overall plan for the county itself, have just been completed, McKenna said.
He said each place created a committee of local leaders and interested citizens, who held monthly meetings to decide what they wanted and what they could offer.
"Without the right products to sell, we don't gain financially. Where do we want to go, where do we want to be, what's the solution."
He said some of the things considered were community benefit and tourism products and experiences. Then each committee created a design vision and goals.
EACH IS UNIQUE
Every town had its individual goals, McKenna said.
"Each of those Essex County communities has its own unique set of community goals, needs, concerns and tourism opportunities.
"The experiences they offer match up best with various visitor profiles, and the steps each needs to take to move toward success vary by circumstances unique to the community."
Each community should have tourism engineered to be specific to the community, he said.
"Each of the targeted communities needs to feel ownership of its plan and to acknowledge that success of each community's plan is also dependent on success at a county level."
To that end, they hired Egret Communications of Ava, Mo., and Westport-based consultant Nancy Decker to guide the process and make sure goals and actions in the plans were reasonable and practical, McKenna said.
"A tourism destination plan needs to be based on good tourism sense. Essex County's citizens and tourism community should feel it is their plan. They should be determined to achieve its goals, and they should be committed to working to carry it through."
Wilmington
Wilmington wanted to strengthen its reputation as the ski town for Whiteface Mountain, create a pedestrian zone, attract new lodging, protect small-town life and bring in new businesses.
"It was really beneficial" to do a Destination Master Plan, Wilmington Supervisor Randy Preston said.
"We got a good idea of where our community wanted to go. They did not want to be another Lake Placid."
He said they also revamped their Visitors Bureau as a result of the planning effort.
Ticonderoga
Carrying the Master Plan out is what Ticonderoga plans to do next, Supervisor Debra Malaney said.
Its plan focused on the town's 18th-century military history and called for expanding lodging and dining opportunities and working more closely with Fort Ticonderoga.
The new executive director of Fort Ticonderoga, Beth Hill, said she plans to work toward that as a goal and would like a closer relationship between the fort and the community.
Ticonderoga is located on both Lake George and Lake Champlain, and committee members said they want to protect, maintain and expand water access in their town.
Schroon Lake
Schroon Lake was also interested in using its water resources, aiming to recapture the town's former status as a lakeside resort destination for visitors.
Schroon Supervisor Cathy praised McKenna and his work.
"It was a very positive process for us."
One change the Schroon committee wanted to enact was make the approaches to the community on Route 9 more inviting.
"First impressions are sometimes lasting impressions," McKenna said. "It's important to Schroon to maintain that small town. Keep it a nice place to live."
Essex County's Destination Plan suggested that the community form a tourism council, create bike lanes connecting communities, offer hospitality training and upgrade and add to the tourism infrastructure of lodging and dining.
FUNDED BY GRANT
The planning started in May 2008 and is wrapping up now, said McKenna, who's also chief executive officer of the Lake Placid Convention and Visitors Bureau. The project was funded by a State Department of Environmental Conservation Adirondack Smart Growth Program grant for $100,000.
Moriah Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava said it was a very worthwhile effort.
"Moriah's committee has worked long and hard. They came up with some very good things we can use to promote the community."
E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com
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