New upstate tourism campaign appeals to cravings for local food

New York tourism authorities say the great American highway trip is back again, and they're relying on people's pent-up desire for travel and leisure and cravings for regional food specialties to lure them upstate this year.

"That's what our info tells us," said Ross Levi, vice president and executive director of tourism at I Love New York, who added that persons want to go to close by vacation spot reachable by car.

Tourism corporations from Buffalo to Binghamton are actually collaborating on a new campaign called "Upstate Eats Trail."

The digital travel guide directs people to a large number of restaurants, taverns, cafes, and roadside stands over the region.

"We had been knocked down for years," stated Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. "I remember the times when people gave upstate no value. The industrial earlier, the harshness when people left us, the populace decline. Right now, we're showing that following this pandemic, we're doing work together."

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The Rochester part of the culinary trail features Abbott's Frozen Custard, the Genesee Brew House, Nick Tahou's, the Rochester Open public Industry, and hot dog and hamburger places like Zweigle's, Don's Original, Expenses Gray's and Schaller's.

Don Jeffries, president and CEO of Go to Rochester, says the trail is a way to provide an economic boost as we emerge from the pandemic.

"When we're out there extra cash in our own community, it circulates dollars, but tourism dollars happen to be new dollars in to the network," he said. "It's a great economic driver."

The brand new website describes the origins of local food specialties that are known far beyond New York, such as Buffalo's wings and beef on weck; Binghamton's spiedies; and the Rochester most desired, chicken French.

Once appetites are satisfied, tourism promoters expectation visitors will stay and visit local sights just like the Strong National Museum of Take up, the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum, and the Eastman Museum.

Hochul has vowed to avoid at every food vacation spot along the 225-mile route in a single evening and is challenging other folks to accomplish the same.

She joked that 225 is not the quantity she hopes to see on the level when she's done.

"I'll watch the scale meticulously," Hochul laughed. "I'm simply likely to have little samples."