A letter from the President and CEO

2022 was an incredible year for Onondaga County as our region showed great resiliency in its recovery from the pandemic. Leisure travel surged thanks to pent up demand and our stakeholders benefited from the return to some sense of normalcy.

The first and most significant move in early 2022 was adding new talent to our core team. These additions have made us more versatile, stronger, and able to branch out into new frontiers. In fact, in 2022 thanks to these key additions, Visit Syracuse was able to redesign, develop content, secure advertising support, and distribute its Visitors Guide from the efforts of this team alone, a publishing process previously managed through an outside agency. We also amplified our blog, social, and visual efforts on a variety of channels including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, thanks to the expansion of the team.

Visit Syracuse made enormous strides in its efforts to showcase Onondaga County, and all of CNY positioning us as an up-and-coming destination. We launched a redesigned website that boasts highly engaged visitation thanks to award winning content from the Visit Syracuse marketing team. The metrics you will see in this report really show just how impactful the new website can be in driving tourism in Onondaga County. Visitors to the site enjoy amazing visuals, intriguing blog content, and a robust calendar to name just a few of the new website features. The new technology will allow us to expand our visibility into new areas in 2023 including the Syracuse Hancock International Airport where kiosks will provide a greeting to thousands of visitors highlighting the best our area has to offer.

Visit Syracuse Film continued to thrive in 2022 with over 30 million dollars in production revenue in Onondaga County. This momentum certainly was noticed from other regions. The sustained success of Visit Syracuse Film led directly to the expansion into Binghamton where VS Film holds a management contract with Visit Binghamton for the enhancement of Visit Binghamton Film. The regional approach and growing footprint of film will drive new revenue.

Goals continue to be shattered by our veteran group of Visit Syracuse sales professionals. In fact, since 2017 sales have increased 73% with 2022 being a record year of over 50,000 convention rooms signed on for future years. 2022 enabled the team to get back on the road and have face to face conversations with prospective and existing clients. It was also a banner year for site visits where clients were met with redesigned collateral showcasing the region’s momentum. In the Group Tour market we have been able to add several new tour itineraries with Syracuse serving as the hub. These groups are very interested in attractions including the Erie Canal Museum, Skaneateles, Green Lakes State Park, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Onondaga Historical Association, the Underground Railroad, Destiny USA and more. The services team expanded their client offerings throughout the year as well and implemented social media into those offerings.

All of these activities played a big part in the recovery of our tourism economy. Statistics tell the story of progress, especially in the hotel industry where rate, rev par, and occupancy exceed 2019 levels. Onondaga County shows great promise. Since 2017 Syracuse has shown the largest amount of growth in those areas when compared to its NYS Thruway competitors.

The Visit Syracuse team experienced an exceptional year, giving reason to be extremely optimistic about the future. Bed tax collections set a new record in 2022, and will help fuel the furnace that will push our region even further forward into 2023 and beyond. Work will begin on a strategic plan that will help us navigate the impending massive projects on tap for future years and take advantage of the positive momentum. We look forward to your participation in this process as we build for the future.

DANNY LIEDKA President & CEO