{"id":883379,"date":"2026-06-21T20:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T20:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/883379\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T20:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T20:13:18","slug":"are-fuel-prices-impacting-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/883379\/","title":{"rendered":"Are fuel prices impacting tourism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority says that, as of June 1, gas prices were up a $1.40 more per gallon from the same time last year. Are those fuel costs affecting tourism in upstate?<\/p>\n<p><b>What You Need To Know<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite high fuel costs, Madison County tourism advocates said occupancy tax data is showing promise<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>More of those taxes have been collected every year since 2020<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Visit Madison County, NY&#8217;s executive director said data indicates more long weekend getaways taking place in the county<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Kaytlynn Lynch has been busy \u2013 she\u2019s the executive director of Visit Madison County, NY.<\/p>\n<p>The organization started a rebranding process a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a lack of understanding and some awareness that needed to be built for why we do what we do, why it matters and how it ultimately creates a better quality of life for our residents,&#8221; Lynch said.<\/p>\n<p>But a year ago, things were different.<\/p>\n<p>Fuel prices weren\u2019t as high.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was supposed to go to London next week. To see Jinkx Monsoon play Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow. And, unfortunately, I had to cancel them because the flights became so expensive as a result of the rising fuel prices,&#8221; said Ozstravaganza fan Tori Calamito.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wife and I are planning a vacation in the summer, and it&#8217;s really come down to what can we afford to do, what&#8217;s affordable, what makes sense for us?&#8221; said Mark Baum, the president of the International L. Frank Baum and All Things Oz Historical Association.<\/p>\n<p>According to Visit Madison County, New York, the occupancy tax revenue has increased year over year. Lynch said that the trend is continuing, and it indicates more long-weekend getaways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve had this trend over the last year, year and a half, where we&#8217;re getting those 2.2 to 2.4 day stays, indicating multiple overnights, driving up those occupancy taxes,&#8221; said Lynch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can really do a lot of things close to home, and I think that&#8217;s going to affect not only our decision but decisions of other people. When gas prices keep going up, you kind of tend to do things more local,&#8221; Baum said.<\/p>\n<p>And there is a lot \u2013 just in early June, Madison County welcomed Wizard of Oz fans to the Oz-Stravaganza, and fans from around the world to the International Boxing Hall of Fame\u2019s Induction Weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Lynch says communities across the state are seeing the tourism increase, too.<\/p>\n<p>And a lot of it, she said, is tied to sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of diehard boxing fans, and a lot of times when you want to go to see something, you might pay the extra cost when things are up because you don&#8217;t want to miss it,&#8221; said International Boxing Hall of Fame Executive Director Ed Brophy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of the amazing sports tourism opportunities, our next-door neighbors in Oneida County with the Nexus Center, all of the hockey tournaments they&#8217;ve been bringing in. You think about the FIFA World Cup coming to New York City very soon here this month and into the summer. So sports tourism is definitely a driver of those increased occupancy taxes and overnight stays,&#8221; said Lynch.<\/p>\n<p>Madison County has lots of other events coming up this summer, including the Cazenovia Lavender Festival, Open Farm Days, and Madison-Bouckville Antique Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority says that, as of June 1, gas prices were&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":883380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,17549,339359,405,403,17050,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5981,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-883379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-central-ny","tag-melissa-krull","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-swarm","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116789930039280024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}