The New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA) awarded Advanced Media New York two 2023 NYS Tourism Excellence Awards. This annual awards program recognizes excellence in marketing, destination management and management of all forms of New York State destination marketing organizations, tourist attractions and other tourism-related businesses. A ceremony to honor the winners will be held on September 14 at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.
AMNY has been highly rated in Amtrak’s “New York Leisure Travel” campaign and the 2022 NYup Summer Travel Guide.
Overall Tourism Marketing Excellence: Regional or Statewide: Amtrak NY’s “Leisure Travel in NY” was recognized for its multi-level digital campaign targeting travelers in New York City, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Toronto, Canada to raise awareness of the convenience, sustainability and comfort that travel with Amtrak offers. AMNY used vibrant and engaging digital and video messages to create messages aimed at different audiences. As a result, passenger numbers on Amtrak’s New York route increased by 57% compared to 2021.
In mid-2022, the campaign began in Toronto, Canada, after borders reopened for international travel between Toronto and New York. Amtrak New York invited Canadians living in Toronto to visit and spend time in beautiful cities across New York and encouraged tourists to book New York State-backed routes, resulting in tens of thousands of visitors since the campaign ran.
Bridget Cerrone, senior account manager at Advance Media New York, said: “Working with Amtrak NY is very exciting, especially with this campaign we can see the number of passengers increase,” she said. “Amtrak’s primary goal has been to not only keep Amtrak in mind for travel in and out of New York State, but to increase ridership across state routes.
In the Tourism Marketing Campaign Excellence category, Projects and Programs – Print: NYup Summer Travel Guide featured dining, outdoor fun, historic sites, music and entertainment, museums and art across regions including the Adirondacks, Capitol, Catskills, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Upstate New York, West New York and Southern Tier. The 2022 Travel Guide was published on May 8, 2022 in The Post Standard (Syracuse), Star Leisure (NJ) and The Patriot News (Pennsylvania), along with hundreds of stops in upstate New York to kick off the summer travel season.
“The NYup travel guide is special,” says Lindsay Marlenga, senior director of marketing at Advanced Media New York. “NYup Travel Guide showcases just how travel-rich Upstate New York is and brings together all the great places to visit in one incredible, inspiring publication.”
This year’s New York State Tourism Excellence Awards included multiple new award categories to recognize significant efforts made to advance the areas of sustainability, DEAI (diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion), international marketing, travel itineraries, and promoting New York State’s great outdoors. Numerous award nominations were highly competitive, with 40% more than the 2022 total.
“The outstanding work of New York’s tourism professionals has been instrumental in the resurgence of New York’s tourism industry following COVID-19,” said Kelly Curtin, president of the New York State Tourism Industry Association. “The efforts of both the 2023 New York State Tourism Excellence Award nominees and winners embody the concept of best practices in destination marketing, management and management.
