Dutchess Tourism, Inc. (DTI) will celebrate National Travel & Tourism Week (NTTW) by hosting their annual Brochure Exchange Tailgate on National Travel Rally Day, May 3. This networking opportunity will begin at 9 a.m. and tourism-related businesses located in Dutchess County are invited to bring at least 300 of their brochures to share in order to cross-promote to visitors. The event will take place at Dutchess Stadium, the home of the Hudson Valley Renegades and a Dutchess County Park. The morning will include remarks from Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro and from Dutchess Tourism President & CEO Melaine Rottkamp, who will give a brief industry update and share the outlook for tourism in Dutchess in 2022.
NTTW 2022 celebrates the #FutureOfTravel and the industry’s role in fostering vibrant communities, driving innovation, facilitating recovery and powering the U.S. economy—in every corner of our country. According to Rottkamp, “We have all worked so hard to come through our industry’s most devastating crisis—and now, the importance of travel is clearer than ever before. As we shift our focus forward, we are collectively defining a more innovative, inclusive and globally competitive future for Dutchess County to drive visitor spending for the benefit of all our residents.”
County Executive Molinaro added, “We celebrate the collective strength of our tourism businesses and attractions and are focused on rebuilding to be an even more welcoming, dynamic, sustainable and inclusive community where visitors can reconnect and create cherished memories.”
Event participants will pop the trunk of their cars or set up small tables to share their materials with other tourism-related businesses at this outdoor event. Advance registration for this free event is required and can be found here: dutchesstourism.com/national-travel-tourism-week.
Copies of Dutchess Tourism’s latest publications, including the award-winning Discover Dutchess Destination Guide, Craft Beverage Trail Map, Contemporary Arts Trail, Bike Tour Guide, and the Dutchess County Farm Finder, will be distributed. By building connections and forming partnerships, tourism-related businesses can better inform visitors about each other, encouraging people to stay in Dutchess longer and boosting visitor spending.
Despite the pandemic, visitors contributed $417.8 million to Dutchess County’s economy in 2020, down 38% from a record-breaking $674.2 million in 2019 which capped ten consecutive years of growth. The economic benefit of visitors to Dutchess County is so significant that each household would need to be taxed an additional $607 to replace taxes collected by state and local governments from visitors to Dutchess in 2020. Tourism also supports the livelihoods of county residents in the form of 8,050 jobs with a combined income of $315.9 million that then gets spent on things like housing, groceries, and other goods and services.
Celebrated annually during the first full week in May, NTTW was created by Congress in 1983 to elevate the economic power of travel in the U.S. The 39th annual NTTW (May 1-7, 2022) will spotlight the critical role that travel will play in driving economic growth and building the path forward through the theme Future of Travel.
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About Dutchess Tourism
Dutchess Tourism, Inc., the officially designated destination marketing organization for Dutchess County, is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of Destinations International. As a 501c6 non-profit organization, it works to bring tourism dollars to area businesses and the community by marketing and promoting the assets of Dutchess County to the nation and the world. The office is located at 3 Neptune Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie with 17 Tourist Information Centers located around Dutchess County. The website is DutchessTourism.com and they can be reached at 845-463-4000. Dutchess Tourism, Inc. is partially funded by monies received from the County of Dutchess.
