11 Feb Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism publishes 2025 year-end report
The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) released its 2025 year-end report, showcasing initiatives that promote the Adirondacks as a premier destination while simultaneously investing in community priorities and sustainable tourism. The report highlights strong economic performance, community-focused initiatives, research efforts, regional marketing campaigns, and a new strategic plan.
As the region’s destination marketing and management organization (DMMO), ROOST’s program of work balances the local tourism economy with community well-being. To achieve this mission, ROOST’s program of work includes efforts in housing, infrastructure, and asset development while promoting the Adirondacks as a premier destination for visitors.
According to Dan Kelleher, ROOST CEO, the organization’s role is comprehensive and includes many initiatives of which the public may not be aware. “ROOST’s work as a DMMO helps to ensure that tourism not only attracts visitors but, more importantly, strengthens the quality of life for our residents,” he said. “Our team is committed to balancing economic vitality with environmental stewardship and community well-being. Looking back over 2025, we are incredibly proud to reflect on a year of progress and collaboration.”
The 2025 year-end report identified that ROOST’s marketing efforts delivered a strong return, directly benefiting local communities and households.
- Visitor Spending: estimated total overnight visitor spending in Essex County reached more than $411 million, with an estimated 3,036,275 overnight visits.
- Tax Relief: tourism-generated tax revenue provided critical support to residents. Without state and local tax revenue generated by travel and tourism, each Essex County household would pay an additional $6,305 per year in taxes; each Hamilton County household would pay an additional $6,213 per year.
- Exceptional ROI: ROOST 2024 Annual Leisure Travel Study revealed an 84:1 return on investment. This result means that for every dollar ROOST spent on marketing, $84 in tourism revenue was generated by visitors within local communities.
ROOST’s marketing activities highlight the Adirondacks as a prominent vacation destination, ultimately driving year-round visitation throughout the area. These activities included:
- Communications strategy, focused primarily on media relations, resulted in feature stories about the region in publications including: USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, AARP, National Geographic, Travel and Leisure, BBC, CBS Evening News, and many more.
- Over 3,500 social media posts, 2,600 YouTube uploads, 12.8 million emails delivered, 230 paid media placements, and 3.1 million unique website visits.
- Completion of a massive undertaking to rebuild the centralized database software powering seven regional websites and six partner sites, enhancing the digital experience for visitors, regional partners, and community members while optimizing for artificial intelligence integrations.
- Launch of the new LakePlacid.com website, which serves over 1.3 million unique users annually with over 3,750 total content pages.
- ROOST also finalized its 2026–2028 strategic plan along with its destination marketing and management plan, setting the stage for future sustainable growth, including the early 2026 debut of the new multi-region Adirondacks, USA website.
ROOST also made significant advancements in destination management initiatives throughout 2025. Highlights of activity include the completion of the Essex County Residential Market Demand Analysis, supporting the Town of Westport and St. Armand in achieving Pro-Housing Community certifications, which positions the towns for priority access to future state resources.
As a result of its work, ROOST was honored with two NYSTIA Tourism Excellence Awards at the annual meeting for “Excellence in Sustainable Tourism: Champions of Change” and “Creative Use of Data to Drive Success.”
The 2025 year-end report can be accessed here.
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