Chemung County tourism officials tout new website, travel guide and popular 'ice‑cream trail'

Chemung County Tourism Promotion Agency and Chamber of Commerce officials presented a progress report that highlighted a new website, a freshly printed travel guide, and a summer “ice‑cream trail” passport that organizers said drew widespread local and regional participation.

Alexis Ralston, the county’s tourism manager, said the new site (discoverchemung.com) launched in mid‑August and has attracted more than 1,600 visitors with an average time on site over two minutes. Ralston said the office is auditing about 300 destination and lodging listings and adding roughly 50 new pages of content in phases through spring 2026.

Travel guide and distribution: The tourism office printed 50,000 copies of a redesigned travel guide (up from a 35,000 typical run) after distributors reported strong demand. The office said 43,000 copies will go to distributors and 7,000 will remain with the Chamber to distribute locally.

Ice‑cream trail and promotions: Ralston described the ice‑cream passport program — 16 participating shops — as a surprise success: more than 3,000 people picked up passports and organizers estimated hundreds of completions (they distributed hundreds of T‑shirts as prizes). Using conservative assumptions about on‑site spending, tourism staff estimated a direct incremental spend in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars from passport participants, but they noted their estimate is conservative and that total economic impact is likely higher.

Economic snapshot: Tourism staff also reported statewide data showing visitor spending in Chemung County reached more than $116 million in 2024, a 3.1% increase over 2023 and the county’s best year on record. Tourism staff said the county supports about 1,600 tourism‑related jobs and that lodging, food and retail are major categories of visitor spending.

Budget and staffing: Ralston said the TPA operates with a roughly $294,000 operating and marketing budget for 2025; about $240,000 comes from hotel/motel tax (occupancy tax) and under $55,000 from state matching funds. She said roughly $70,000 of the budget supports programming and memberships (regional tourism partnerships) and about $9,000 remains for marketing this year after core costs and a large print run of travel guides were funded.

Requests and next steps: Tourism leaders asked legislators to consider increased funding to support targeted paid marketing and additional programming; they said further investment would support planned attractions such as a treetop walkway at Tanglewood Nature Center and expanded regional promotion.

Ending: Legislators praised the work and encouraged coordination across upcoming attractions and events; tourism staff said they will continue to expand content on the new site and distribute travel guides to partners and visitors.