Payroll & Jobs

Tourism is big business with big benefits. Among the biggest benefits that tourism offers to the area is the number of jobs that our industry provides. Not only does our industry provide full time jobs at such places as the area hotels, restaurants, and museums and amusements, we also provide part time and seasonal jobs. The variety of types of jobs in tourism make it difficult to accurately report our jobs, as they aren't all credited to travel and tourism. As an example, we are sure that grape pie makers in Naples are not counted in tourism, but we know that producing nearly 70,000 pies a year takes a good deal of labor and supports a number of our county's families. We know that tour guides and related support staff at wineries are counted as manufacturing jobs. We know that artists - nearly 250 of them work in our area - aren't generally viewed as tourism related jobs. So you can imagine how many more "tourism jobs" there are out there than the number we are able to illustrate in these charts. No matter how "undercounted" we feel, we are able to compare apples to apples in terms of growth. We are very proud of the job growth we've been able to illustrate in our industry. In 1984, the first year that Finger Lakes Visitors Connection began its work, there were 337 units reporting travel and tourism jobs totaling 3,504 jobs with a payroll of $23,837,900. The latest figures we have demonstrate our tremendous growth: 443 reporting units with 5561 jobs and a payroll topping $70,546,349. Below are charts that demonstrate how many jobs we have and how much payroll value they bring to our communities.

This chart is compiled from numbers supplied by the New York State Department of Economic Development and from the New York State Tourism Promotion Agency Council. It illustrates how the payroll value of tourism jobs has escalated over the years. One of the missions of Finger Lakes Visitors Connection is to "grow" tourism related jobs and their value to the community.

The chart below illustrates the number of jobs in tourism for Ontario County. In 1984 there were 3504 jobs reported. This grew by 1000 plus in 1994 to 4547. The industry gained another 1000 plus jobs in the next six years. By 2000, the last year that statistics have been provided, there are 5561 jobs in tourism in Ontario County.

One other tidbit that is interesting is that in 1984 there were 337 units reporting travel and tourism jobs in Ontario County. By 1997 (the last time this number was recorded), there were 443 businesses reporting in the tourism category. That means that 106 new tourism businesses grew in Ontario County from 1984 to 1997. That's incredible business growth!