The Catskill Chronicle

FERNDALE, NY (March 17, 2011) – The Sullivan County Visitors Association was recently honored by the New York State Travel and Vacation Association for Tourism Excellence in Marketing in New York State.

Roberta Byron-Lockwood, President/CEO, accepted the award from Jim Walter, President of the New York State Travel and Vacation Association, at the annual NYS Tourism Conference in Albany on March 3, 2011.

The program submitted for the statewide honor was the Sullivan County Catskills Local Matching Funds Program developed in 2010 with funding from a public/private sector partnership.

The project was judged on creativity and high levels of conversion, attendance, economic impact and/or consumer response. Under the Sullivan County Visitors Association, the program was offered to over 200 businesses that participated in several local media outlets.

“This program was made possible by the Sullivan County Manager and the Legislature. The funds used were the 15% administrative fee of the bed tax collections that was leverage with cooperative partners to secure added value advertising from the our local media outlets,” stated Lockwood. “In a tough economic year, these extra advertising dollars helped the tourism businesses in Sullivan County remain solvent and as an added benefit increased both the sales tax and bed tax collected under tourism codes.” 

The 2011 local matching funds program is once again being offered. For information on this program and others offered by the Sullivan County Visitors Association, call 845-747-4449.