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TDC IDEA - An Affiliate of the State Data CenterThe official website of The Development Corp.'s
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The Clinton County Accommodations Industry
by Colin Read, September 15, 2010
Last month, we calculated the economic effects in Clinton County from just one major weekend event. This month, we measure the overall effects of our accommodations industry in Clinton County.
Clinton County has begun to be recognized as a tourist destination, rather than just as a second home and retail destination for Canadians. Bordering the Adirondacks, the largest state park east of the Mississippi, with Montreal just an hour's drive north, and lying on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, once declared by Congress to be one of the Great Lakes, this region is rich in recreational possibilities.
Clinton County is also becoming known for a growing number of international, national, and regional fishing tournaments, large bicycle tours, university and agency sponsored conferences, a number of interesting museums and a rich historical legacy, and a regional retail shopping destination, especially as the Canadian dollar strengthens. It is also growing in its stature as a global business center.
Each of these growing economic development opportunities creates additional demand for our hotel accommodations industry.
The direct employment and economic impact can be measured by a regional economic activity program called IMPLAN. Standing for Input/Output Modeling for Planners, this tool demonstrates the level of economic activity in the hotel, motel, and other accommodations sectors in 2008:
| Industry Code | Description | Employment | Output | Employee Compensation | Proprietor Income | Other Property Type Income | Indirect Business Taxes |
| 411 | Hotels and motels, casino hotels |
229.6 | $15,154,972 | $4,339,045 | $884,855 | $2,852,106 | $1,408,851 |
| 412 | Other accommodations | 57.2 | $4,602,429 | $1,430,652 | $193,242 | $466,189 | $88,864 |
Clinton County generated 286.8 full time equivalent jobs in the accommodations sector in 2008. It also supported spending of $19.757 million, and generated almost $5.77 million in employee compensation. The industry also generated $1.497 million in indirect business taxes. With the recent imposition of a bed tax, the level of regional government support and tourism marketing expenditure is expected to rise still further.
Since these data were collected, an additional national chain hotel has opened its doors, and an existing national chain hotel has been completely rebuilt and expanded. Plans for another major hotel have been announced, at the same time as our airport continues to grow in passenger enplanements. Accommodations entrepreneurs anticipate strong hotel growth in the future to support such an expansion of activity at Plattsburgh International Airport.
Beyond the direct jobs created in the accommodations industry, there are other jobs induced on or indirectly enhancing the regional economy. For instance, economists count indirect jobs as those that arise in direct support of an industry. These upstream jobsin accommodations include such businesses as suppliers of linens, cleaning supplies, and maintenance equipment, which are necessary for the accommodations industry. In addition, the income generated from both the direct and indirect spending induces a further round of spending. Those who have income are able to buy the local goods and services they need, and pay the taxes imposed that support the costs of public sector jobs.
Once these indirect and induced jobs are added to the direct jobs, we find an even more substantial economic impact flowing from the spending on accommodations. These can be represented by the multiplied economic activity (multipliers) that flow to Clinton County for each dollar spent in accommodations:
| Industry Code | Description | Direct | Indirect | Induced | Total |
| 411 | Hotels and motels, casino hotels |
1.000000 | 0.177639 | 0.397518 | 1.575158 |
| 412 | Other accommodations | 1.000000 | 0.255997 | 0.337884 | 1.593881 |
We see that a dollar spent at hotels and motels generates a further $0.18 in indirect spending with upstream suppliers and $.40 in spending that arises from this highly local-intensive sector. The total effect for every dollar spent in this industry is between $1.58 and $1.59. Using these multipliers, we find the direct spending on accommodations generates at county-wide income of $31.2 million annually.
The jobs generated in the accommodations industry also contributes to other jobs across the country. The jobs created for every million dollars of spending in the sector are as follows:
| Industry Code | Description | Direct Jobs | Indirect Jobs | Induced Jobs |
| 411 | Hotels and motels, casino hotels |
15.147453 | 1.597261 | 4.140656 |
| 412 | Other accommodations |
12.436293 | 2.339981 | 3.443548 |
We find that the 286.8 direct jobs generate another 34.97 indirect jobs and 78.57 induced jobs. Overall, the accommodations sector alone supports 400.4 jobs in Clinton County.
Tourism-related job creation does not simply end with accommodations, however. The June TDC IDEA article showed the relationship between tourism accommodations spending and their associated spending on food and beverages, recreation, and retail shopping. In a future article, we will explore the food and beverage industry in Clinton County as we continue our series on the economics of the hospitality industry.