Tourism by the numbers

NEW YORK STATE, FINGER LAKES--Oxford Economics provides the analysis for New York state with quantitative tourism and evidence-based economic studies.
Looking at the year of 2015 compared to 2014, Oxford has published statewide and specific Finger Lakes regional comparisons.
Overall, New York state tourism expanded in 2015 with a 1 percent growth in traveler spending. 8.3 percent of all New York state employment is sustained by tourism, either directly or indirectly.
The state is divided into 11 economic regions. New York City is the largest single tourism region with 65 percent of all state visitor spending. Tourism is an integral part of every region's economy, generating between 6 percent and 19 percent of employment. Regionally, tourism is most important to the Adirondacks and Catskills, generating 19 percent and 15 percent of their total employment respectively. Yates County depends on 12.3 percent of the county's employment from tourism.
In 2015 compared to 2014, for the Finger Lakes region, traveler spending experienced the largest gain in Schuyler County with an 11.1 percent increase. Wayne and Yates Counties finished in the top three places with 7.6 percent and 5.3 percent year-over-year gains, respectively.
Tioga and Chemung Counties both recorded negative numbers for 2015 with -3.0 percent and -4.1 percent.