Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on a snowmobile (Photo: @NYGovCuomo Twitter account)
The next time you go to New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) hopes you go on a snowmobile.
Cuomo on Monday visited Tug Hill, a snowmobiling mecca north of Utica and south of Watertown, to kick off an advertising campaign aimed at luring visitors to Upstate ski, snowmobiling and other winter sports locations. The campaign will spend $4.5 million on print, radio, television and digital ads across the United States.
The campaign is dubbed, we’re not kidding, “I [Snowmobile] NY.”
“With our new ad campaign, we want more New Yorkers and tourists to come visit regions like Tug Hill to see what winter adventures await in the Empire State,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Tourism is a big industry in New York, accounting for more than $61 billion in direct spending, and $7.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2013, according to a report issued by Cuomo’s office. And $868 million of that economic activity has come from people who use the state’s 10,000 miles of snowmobiling trails.
Cuomo’s administration has spent $11 million to maintain and develop the snowmobiling trails.