Our destinations in the media October 2, 2014: canoe.ca, "Un week-end au lac Champlain" Sylvie Ruel, who ROOST hosted in the Lake Champlain Region in September, writes about her experience there. She mentions a number of local organizations and businesses: the Essex Heritage Center, the Essex Inn, Placid Planet, Adirondack Coast Bikeways, CATS, Fort Ticonderoga, AuSable Chasm, the Turtle Island Cafe, the King's Inn Restaurant, the Cupola House, and the Westport Hotel and Tavern. Sylvie Ruel photo

Our destinations in the mediaOctober 3, 2014: CNN Travel via Travel + Leisure, Best towns for fall colorsTravel + Leisure names Lake Placid one of the best towns in the country to see beautiful fall colors. READ THE ARTICLEMirror Lake in the fall

ROOST in the news October 10, 2014: Lake Placid News, "Essex County summer tourism numbers strong" The Lake Placid News quotes ROOST CEO Jim McKenna about a strong summer tourism season. READ THE ARTICLE Andy Flynn photo

Our destinations in the mediaOctober 18, 2014: Le Devoir, Les Adirondacks - Entre histoire et villégiatureLouise Gaboury, who ROOST hosted in the Lake Champlain Region in August, writes about her experience there. Local businesses and organizations mentioned include the Adirondack History Center Museum, the Elizabethtown Farmers Market, Reber Rock Farm, DaCy Meadow Farm, CATs, the Dogwood Bread Company and the Old Mill Bed and Breakfast. READ THE ARTICLELouise Gaboury photo

The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) will host a gathering of destination planning committee representatives from 13 Adirondack Tourism Destination Areas (TDAs) on Friday, Oct. 24, at the Conference Center at Lake Placid. The gathering on Friday will begin with registration at 10:30 a.m. The program will be facilitated by outside consultant and destination development expert Joe Lathrop of OCG, a New York City-based consulting firm. At 11 a.m. each Tourism Destination representative will provide a brief overview of their region’s progress. In addition to the TDAs, a representative from the Lake Placid Retail Tourism Development Group will present an overview of a recent survey. This will be followed by breakout work sessions to identify synergies and challenges and explore further opportunities for collaboration, then a wrap-up session to discuss the destinations’ gaps in product, inhibitors to growth and current strengths. The TDAs are currently in various stages of progress in the ROOST-led destination development process. “Most of these TDAs have completed the inventory of assets and are beginning to develop strategies and goals,” said James McKenna, ROOST CEO. “This gathering will serve as both a networking forum and a valuable work session for these community stakeholders.” The overall goals of the destination master planning process mirror those of the sustainable tourism credo: Grow the existing tourism economy without negatively impacting the residents’ quality of life. The goals of the process are to put tools in place to attract private investment in tourism, and to develop tourism infrastructure to transform the region by driving community development and leveraging private investment in tourism destination area communities and corridors. A summary of the day’s results will be compiled and distributed to the collective group following the Summit. Questions regarding the Summit and/or the TDAs should be directed to Kerry Blinn at kerry@roostadk.com or at 518.523.2445 x113.