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.

Our destinations in the media Oct. 24, 2014: Huffington Post - Ski Bums Pick: The East's Top 3 Most Livable Ski Towns Local restauranteur Andrew Quinn talks about what a great place Lake Placid is for a ski bum. READ THE ARTICLE

LAKE PLACID — A new committee is asking local businesses to help with a campaign to increase the local workforce, starting with a new job fair. A coalition of local businesses, together with the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, formed the Job Fair Committee, which is seeking to increase the pool of local workers by attracting more high-quality workers here. The first step is to hold the Lake Placid Winter Job Fair. Businesses are invited to set up a free booth at the fair, which will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, at the Conference Center at Lake Placid. Don’t miss this great chance to meet a whole pool of potential employees face to face all at once, for free! Any business that wants to participate in the job fair should contact Kathy Pfohl at kathy@roostadk.com or 518-524-2445 ext. 110. New workers need housing, and it’s often tough for workers to find it in a new town. So the committee is compiling a list of available housing for potential seasonal and/or full-time workers. Anyone who has housing - anything from a single room for rent, to a person looking for a roommate, to an entire home - can send their information to Kathy Pfohl to get a free listing. This free service will start as a PDF to be handed out to potential renters at the Job Fair, but the committee intends to eventually create an online database that will be easily searchable. To entice more people to work here, the committee is also putting together a local worker incentive program called ADK Work and Play. To participate, businesses can offer discounts for people who work locally. “Local workers will be able to sign up for a free card to bring to local businesses. After having good experiences at a local restaurant, store or other business, the worker will be able to recommend the place to visitors and other customers, so it will be a win-win for everyone,” said Mary Jane Lawrence, ROOST’s director of sales. Businesses can use participation in the program to drive traffic when they need traffic the most, and they are welcome to institute blackout dates for the discount. The initial ADK Work and Play program will run Jan. 1, 2015, to June 1, 2015. Interested businesses should contact Kathy Pfohl by Nov. 7. Anyone who wants to find new employees by participating in the Job Fair, find renters for available housing, or to drive more customer traffic by participating in the new local worker incentive program, should contact Kathy Pfohl at kathy@roostadk.com or 518-524-2445 ext. 110. For more information, go to www.roostadk.com/job-fair.

ROOST in the news Oct. 27, 2014: WNBZ, ROOST -Tourism Promotion and A Destination Master Plan Ted Morgan covers the Adirondack Destination Summit hosted Oct. 24 by ROOST. Ted Morgan photo

Our destinations in the news Oct. 29, 2014: Huffington Post via Trivago, 7 Secret Spots to Tie the Knot in Fall Lake Placid is listed as a great, unknown place for fall weddings. READ THE ARTICLE Whiteface Lodge photo