Empire State Development under the leadership of Ken Adams is the organization which includes ILoveNY (under Gavin Landry), which is responsible for the Path through History, but which has no full time staff. The mission of Empire State Development Market New York (ESD MNY) is:

The Market New York Grant program supports regionally-themed New York-focused projects that promote tourism destinations, attractions, special events and other travel related activities that help achieve the Regional Councils’ long term strategic goals for economic growth, which include attracting more visitors to New York State.

To achieve this goal ESD MNY was budgeted $10,000,000 to award to other organizations in 2014. This funding was awarded to three media projects in Broome County, the Finger Lakes Trail, and in Long Island, consistent with its definition as a marketing organization (not a history organization). The awards ESD MNY grants shed light on what it does and offers some guidance to the history community on the types of awards it should seek. One area of significant funding was booze destinations, especially wineries and breweries.

Central Tier: Madison County
Applicant: Good Nature Brewing, Inc.
Project Title: New Farm Brewery Facility
Description: Good Nature Brewing, Inc. will construct a new 4000ft brewery including indoor/outdoor retail and event space for tours, classes, public/private events, as well as to renovate an existing 3500ft structure for use as warehouse and office space. Outdoor space will enable the facility to offer entertainment, open air markets, a demonstration “Beer Garden” and more.
Amount: $100,000

Central Tier: Oneida County
Applicant: Oneida County Tourism
Project Title: Brew Central Marketing Campaign
Description: Brew Central is a comprehensive regional tourism marketing campaign positioning the Central NY Vacation Region and Mohawk Valley as New York’s premier Craft Brew Destination to compliment the TASTE NY program. Specific target marketing with focused messaging to stimulate day tripper and overnight leisure travel from domestic markets across NY, PA, NJ, CT, VT, MA. International marketing will target Canada, UK and Germany aligning and partnering with ILNY and BrandUSA programs.
Amount: $500,000

Long Island: Suffolk County
Applicant: Long Island Wine Country
Project Title: Long Island Wine Country Global Trade and Tourism Initiative
Description: The Long Island Wine Council will undertake a multi-phase marketing project
that will implement a targeted multi-media advertising in the NYC and international markets, as well as organizing special events targeting hotel concierges and the international wine/food media and trade in NYC.
Amount: $285,000

Mid-Hudson: Dutchess County
Applicant: Jalor Properties, LLC
Project Title: Hudson Valley Brewery
Description: Jalor Properties, LLC will use the funds to purchase and restore a turn of the century factory building into Beacon, NY into a mid-size production brewery and taproom in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Hudson Valley Brewery will also feature a Bavarian-style beer hall and beer garden with a simple food menu consisting of fresh ingredients from local farms.
Amount: $40,000 plus $450,000 in a related award

Southern Tier: Multiple counties including the Finger Lakes
Applicant: Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association
Project Title: 2015 Wine Bloggers Conference
Description: The Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association will host a Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) – a three-day gathering of wine industry bloggers and social media specialists. WBC2015 will be held at the Radisson Hotel Corning in the summer of 2015. The annual WBC helps boost the area economy and provides exposure to the local wine and tourism industries with a potential audience reach of 4.2 million individuals.
Amount: $95,000

Southern Tier: Seneca, Cayuga, and Tompkins Counties
Applicant: Cayuga Lake Wine Trail
Project Title Winery Way Finding and Marketing
Description: Cayuga Lake Wine Trail will launch an international, targeted social media
advertising program in the US, France, Spain, Japan, United Kingdom and Canadian markets. The marketing campaign will include a multi-language diorama at JFK airport; scrolling displays at the Syracuse Hancock Airport ; as well as a for destination marketing wayfinding app and signage at each winery connected to a GPS locator through a QR code.
Amount: $75,000

Southern Tier: Steuben County
Applicant: Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance
Project Title: Wine Water and Wonders
Description: This marketing project, employed by Corning Museum of Glass, Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, VisitRochester and Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation, will target the international travelers already visiting New York City and introduce them to all there is between NYC and Niagara Falls. This project is at a critical growth point and this grant facilitates the ability to make inroads in the Chinese, France, Germany and United Kingdom markets through sales missions, tradeshows and travel writer visits.
Amount: $210,000

At The New York Times Travel Show, January 23, Gavin Landry, director of ILoveNY within ESD informed the audience at a session on New York Destinations that the state produced 180 million bottles of wine last year, second highest in the country. Clearly this is big business. At the San Francisco Wine Competition, one of the big ones, New York has won the top wine category in four of the last six years, all from Keuka Lake wineries. 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the Keuka Lake Wine Trail. The Finger Lakes wine region was named “Wine Region of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast last October and named one of the top-ten destinations for 2015. So it is easy to understand the emphasis on supporting tourism in the this area.

Governor Cuomo’s support for winery tourism is well-known.and as can be seen from these awards, ESD puts its money where the Governor’s mouth is when it comes to this form of tourism. Since Cuomo also touts recreational and history tourism in New York, one should be optimistic that ESD will be equally supportive of those areas as well. Those awards will be the subject of a forthcoming essay.