A decline in Canadian tourism may have impacted the summer season in the Adirondacks, but small businesses and officials in Lake George remain optimistic.
From January to August, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data show Canadian travelers crossing the northern border into New York decreased nearly 20% year-over-year. That’s a decrease of more than 2 million individuals over the eight-month span, with the figure growing to almost 22% for Lake George’s busiest summer months.
There are three Dilligaf stores along Lake George’s main strip. The shops are filled with mazes of meant-to-offend t-shirts, hats, and stickers.
In June, owner William Massry told WAMC he was concerned that he would see a decrease in business due to fewer Canadians crossing the border, in part, because of federal trade policies as well as poor weather.
Massry says he noticed a decline in customers from the Great White North.
“The Canadians are a vital part of our business. They love Dilligaf. They embrace the F-U attitude. So, maybe they say that Canadians aren’t that big of an impact in the rest of the area but they really love Dilligaf. Honestly we felt it more and every time we did get a Canadian I wanted to hug them and thank them,” said Massry.
He says business was down a considerable amount at the beginning of the summer -- Memorial Day was rained out and the annual motorcycle show Americade didn’t attract nearly its usual 60,000-plus riders. But, Massry adds, things did eventually pick up.
“We had a very horrible start because May and June it rained every weekend. So we thought maybe it was a bad start because of the economy, the Canadians, whatever. Business was down 60% over May and June. There’s nothing you can do weather related. It picked up. July and August it was decent. September has been very good because of the weather. But overall if I were to give it a grade I would give it a B. We always shoot for As but, you know what, it could have been worse, it could have been a C,” said Massry.
Just down the street it’s a quiet lunch hour in Capri Pizzeria and Restaurant.
“Certainly a decrease. I’m not going to say nobody, but there was a decrease. Substantial,” said Mastrantoni.
Capri has been serving up slices for 54 years, and owner Rocco Mastrantoni plans to give the spot to his son. But he worries about the future of smaller operations along the strip.
“We ain’t going nowhere. Listen, the winters are tough up here. They’re really tough. You’re used to a certain thing and you don’t get it, a lot of places go out of business if they don’t have a great summer. The thing is with Lake George, someone told me this a long time ago, it’s like a mouse in one of those little cages that goes round and round. Lake George is the same way, you go up and you’ve got money, you come down and you don’t got no money. You spend your money to stay open,” said Mastrantoni.
Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gina Mintzer says annualized Canadian visitors only make up between 3 and 5% of business locally. Despite a slow start to the season, she says it was a successful summer.
“Then we hit July 4th and the momentum for July and August completely picked up. There was also maybe a picot, if you will, Warren County Tourism, the Chamber, local businesses all working together with a ‘oh my gosh May and June were slow we need to pick it up’ and it felt like that visitor traffic rebounded. And we could see it in our last minute lodging. We did also see a lot of last-minute bookings but those are people who booked and came for two nights, three nights. So, the village was lively, events were well attended, the energy was really strong at mid-season,” said Minzter.
The Chamber also undertook an effort to attract visitors from nearby American cities. Mintzer says, so far, it appears to have worked.
“You know the Boston market, Connecticut, New Haven. Obviously Western Massachusetts has always been strong for us. Anywhere between Utica and the other side of Rochester, the Western portion of Rochester maybe not as far as Buffalo, that has been a growing market. And once people came here in the midst of COVID and did discover such a beautiful and clean lake they did come back. But, again, our goal was to just push that needle just another percent here, there in those markets,” said Mintzer.
