Key to regional heritage tourism meeting: Brainstorming

By Linda Kellett, for the Recorder

CANAJOHARIE -- Representatives of historic groups, heritage
organizations, individuals and others with a stake in heritage tourism
efforts in the Mohawk Valley Region swarmed to the Arkell Museum and
Canajoharie Library Thursday afternoon to take part in a public
meeting hosted by the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development
Council's workgroup for the state "Path Through History" initiative.

Around six dozen people from Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida,
Otsego and Schoharie counties turned out for the regional meeting. Its
purpose was to provide input about a potential marketing plan and
"catalyst project" being developed for the region to encourage tourism
and local economic development, as well as to serve as an educational
tool.

Local workgroup leaders including Gina DaBiere-Gibbs, the tourism
director for the Fulton-Montgomery Regional Chamber of Commerce, and
Helen Martin, the chairman of the Mohawk valley region's workgroup,
facilitated a half-dozen break-out groups, which brainstormed about
this region's resources, the story they want the region "to tell," how
they want to tell it, and organizations that could support the region
and heritage tourism.

Martin said the next meeting, which will be held to synthesize those
suggestions into a primary catalyst project, to form sub-committees
and the like, will take place on Feb. 6, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Fort
Plain Museum.

Mark Castiglione, the acting executive director of the Hudson River
Valley Greenway and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area,
early in the program gave an overview of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "Path
Through History" initiative, noting that Cuomo recognized that "our
story in New York state is more significant and contributed more to
our national story than any state in the nation."

Additionally, he said Cuomo realized that when heritage tourists
travel, they "spend more and they stay longer" than average tourists.

"On average, they spend $300 more per trip than the average tourists,"
he said, adding that 78 percent of tourists participate in cultural
and heritage activities.

"It makes sense to focus on heritage tourism, and that's what the Path
Through History is about," Castiglione said.

Ultimately, the initiative is about collaboration across the region,
the development of a dynamic tourism experience that allows the
tourist to move from recreational to heritage experiences, the
fostering of public-private partnerships, and the leveraging of
existing tourism/historic tourism efforts and knowledge -- with the
goal of "telling a better story to attract people here," he said.

Ten regional workgroups, made up of tourism professionals, historians
and heritage professionals, were developed across the state as part of
the initiative. Themes identified by those groups were submitted to
the state in August.

Of all of the themes, 12 were selected to help the regions tell their stories.

"They're a way of organizing our tremendous and diverse story," he said.

The next task for individual workgroups is to develop a plan of
action, with projects of mutual benefit for the members of that region
that will fit together to become a statewide plan for heritage
tourism.

Each workgroup is expected to receive about $100,000 to "kickstart"
their heritage tourism efforts locally. In order to accomplish that,
they'll be creating a plan with short-term, medium-term and
longer-term ideas and a project list, for which the money will be
spent-- "to make investments that have an impact across the region and
to lay a foundation for a tourism economy and partnerships that will
implement the plan moving forward," he said.

The projects will be reviewed by the regional economic development
council, with funding awarded this spring.

In order to promote the initiative, he said the regional groups are in
the process of developing content, and representatives of I Love New
York will develop an interactive website and mobile app.

He said: "The folks in the region know their stories the best. I Love
New York in Albany or New York City, they can have an idea what the
story is, but they don't know; and that's why the regional Path
Through History workers were created: to help them tell a better story
through their website and mobile experience.

"The goal is to surround the tourist with a heritage experience like
no way before," Castiglione said. "I've never seen an investment in
marketing history and heritage tourism at this level before. I think
it's a tremendous benefit for us all."

In addition to the website and mobile apps, he said the state will be
putting up new signage that connects historic sites with the branded
Path Through History signs.

Additionally, Heritage Weekend will be rebranded as Path Through
History weekends, to be observed on June 1, 2, 8 and 9. He said: "That
will be our chance to highlight the diversity of the heritage
experience across the state and demonstrate all the organizations that
contribute to making heritage tourism a reality and interesting across
the state."

Key to the success and resilience of the effort is partnerships and
collaboration among the organizations represented in the regional work
groups, the economic development community and historians, and the
tourism community and historians, he said.

-- 
Bob Sullivan
Schenectady Digital History Archive
<http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/>
Schenectady County (NY) Public Library