NY Launches $40M Campaign To Woo Summer Tourists To LI, Upstate

LONG ISLAND, NY — With coronavirus positivity rates down and vaccinations up, New York is looking to invite tourists back this summer, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Speaking from the New York State fairgrounds in Syracuse, Cuomo said as of Monday, the positivity rate stood at 0.41. Vaccination rates were at 69.9 — once that number reaches 70 percent, virtually all pandemic restrictions will be dropped statewide, Cuomo has said.

Based on the progress, the New York State Fair will be open at 100 percent capacity, rather than the 50 percent recently announced, Cuomo said.

"It's time to get back to living, not surviving," Cuomo said.

With New York's numbers among the best nationwide, it's safe for visitors to travel to the state, Cuomo said — and tourists are encouraged to visit Long Island and upstate destinations, including Coopers Beach in Southampton.

"We have an opportunity because we have the lowest positivity rate in the nation. We literally go between the lowest, second-lowest," Cuomo said. "You want to travel this summer? Then travel safe and go to a place and a state that you know is safe from COVID and that is the State of New York."

New York is launching a $40 million, international "I Love NY" campaign, Cuomo said. "It is probably the quickest way to jumpstart and reinvigorate our economy by getting that tourism industry up and running."

Cuomo showed two tourism ads that will run, featuring not only upstate locations, but Coopers Beach in Southampton.

And that's good news for the region, Kristen Reynolds, president and CEO at Discover Long Island told Patch in an interview.

"The Discover Long Island team is incredibly excited for a long-anticipated classic Long Island Summer and is committed to increasing awareness of Long Island as a premier vacation destination," she said.

During the past several months, Discover Long Island has launched several initiatives to generate tourism including a new podcast, Long Island Tea, and the YouTube series, Long Island TV, she said.

"At a time when digital and visual content is a leading tool in destination marketing, Discover Long Island’s new series showcases the best of the destination through the creation of engaging, visually stimulating, timely, and relevant content," Reynolds said.

Discover Long Island has also just experimented with live streaming by partnering with the Urbanist, Ariel Viera, on a tour of Port Jefferson which received 5.6K views and is something that will be incorporated into content strategy "to highlight our partners in downtowns across the island," she said. "Our first trial run with live streaming was an incredible success and we look forward to showcasing the history and uniqueness each downtown has to offer. In addition to creating this incredible content, we are amplifying it with paid digital media to reach a wider audience of travel intenders."

Dr. Michelle C. Reed, Discover Long Island’s official health and wellness ambassador, has also worked to provide safe travel tips to visitors and share her recommendations on how to enjoy Long Island’s tourism attractions and outdoor experiences on social media.

"Long Island residents played their part to help stop the spread of Covid-19. We stayed local, wore our masks, supported local businesses and many of us have been vaccinated. It’s time to open our doors back up to visitors who are eager to visit this amazing destination that we get to call home," Discover Long Island said in a release. "Tourism is a $6.3 billion industry that supports more than 100k local jobs and the recovery of this industry is paramount to our small businesses and maintaining our quality of life."

As for Coopers Beach, Cuomo's mention was another nod to one of the most idyllic beaches in the Hamptons. In May, Coopers Beach was ranked #2 in the nation, named one of America's Top 10 Beaches for 2021 by Dr. Beach.

And it's not the first time the beach has earned top honors: Coopers Beach was also named one of America's Top 10 Beaches in 2019 by coastal expert Stephen "Dr. Beach" Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University.

Dr. Beach creates the list every year using 50 criteria, which include water, sand quality, safety, and management.

In past years, Dr. Beach has said that Coopers Beach, which ranked #4 on his list for 2019, "is located on the south shore of Long Island, New York, shielded from the cold Labrador currents in the beautiful village of Southampton."

This year, Dr. Beach wrote that as the first "Gold Coast" in the country, "Coopers Beach is hundreds of yards wide, made of grainy white quartz sand. The beach is backed by large sand dunes covered by American beach grass interspersed with large and extravagant mansions. Some of the best beach access in the Hamptons exists on Coopers Beach, and a snack bar serving lunch and drinks can be found here as well."

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, however, said the efforts may well be targeted toward later in the year. "By all accounts, this is going to be a busy tourism season," he said. "If we need promotion, it may be in the fall."