New direction for tourism stresses wine over "pork-and-beaners"

CORNING -- Enough with the "pork-and-beaners"; the Finger Lakes tourism industry is going after the upscale "touring vacationer."
A major shift in tourism efforts was announced Wednesday by tourism leaders in Steuben, Chemung and Schuyler counties. It is a new direction - three years in the making - that combines public and private money, stresses regional rather than parochial promotion, and emphasizes the wine industry over the traditional glass attraction.

From now on, tourism advertising will tout the Finger Lakes Wine Country. The advertising campaign, drawn up by the Rudder Group of Toronto, will use as the main logo a signpost touting the Finger Lakes Wine Country with the phrase "just down the road."

The idea is to go after the traditional market of potential tourists who live up to 500 miles away, which encompasses most of the big cities of the East Coast and southern Canada, according to David Holder, executive director of the Steuben County Conference and Visitors Bureau.

It draws upon a recognizable name - the Finger Lakes - and product, the wine produced by local vintners. But it also retains the outdoors country image that routinely has drawn many travelers to the area, according to Anne Parker of the Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association.

The change in direction was prompted by a commissioned study of tourism done by the renowned Longwoods International research firm, which determined the region drew what Parker called the "pork-and-beaner" tourists; those who come here primarily to camp, and whose shopping is primarily confined to buying groceries at a local store.

But the market these regional officials want to attract is what is known as the "touring vacationer," Holder said, those who spend multiple nights in an area, visit attractions, and spend a not-insignificant amount of discretionary income. It is toward those people - many of whom travel without children - that the new Finger Lakes Wine Country image is projected.

"If we're spending money to go after markets, we should spend it on trying to get the one with the most impact," Holder said.

To accomplish this, Corning Enterprises - the economic development wing of Corning Inc. - has contributed $250,000 for marketing efforts, an amount which is to be matched by contributions from the governments of Steuben, Chemung and Schuyler counties. Steuben and Chemung counties each will contribute $110,000, while smaller Schuyler County will put up $30,000.

"The concept behind this is unprecedented in this area ... We've never had anything of this magnitude that will put us in the eye of the consumer," Parker said.

But tourism officials in each of the three counties had to agree to redirect their individual promotional efforts toward the common region - a task that the officials admit was not easy. "We had to get rid of some serious parochialism," said Kevin Keeley, president and chief executive officer of the Chemung County Chamber of Commerce.

The tourism officials expect the regional approach to entice those prospective travelers looking for information over the Internet. Travelers cannot be expected to remember what county they need to visit, said Margaret Cook, executive director of eh Schuyler Chamber of Commerce.

"Visitors don't know what county they are in. They don't care what county they are in," she said. But they do know regions, and the Finger Lakes name is memorable, she said.

The Corning Museum of Glass has contributed $50,000 toward the marketing effort, even though its officials know that it no longer will be the predominant promotional focus, Parker said. While the museum will be among the attractions mentioned in Finger Lakes advertising, it will be the winery aspect that will be highlighted.

This is reflected in another logo in The Rudder Group's ad: "See the beauty, feel the history, taste the wine."