Ulster County Sustainable Tourism Plan
Sustainable tourism is about creating a balance — ensuring that the visitors who discover Ulster County’s beauty today help preserve it for generations to come.
It’s an approach that protects our natural landscapes, celebrates local culture, and strengthens the communities that make this region so special.
At its heart, sustainable tourism means traveling thoughtfully: supporting local businesses, reducing environmental impacts, and honoring the heritage and character of each town, trail, and Main Street. By working together to grow tourism responsibly, Ulster County can continue to offer authentic, memorable experiences while protecting the very places that make this destination unlike any other.
Join us at one of Ulster County Tourism's upcoming public forums to share your insights, shape the future of sustainable tourism, and ensure our community thrives for generations to come.
A blueprint for growing our tourism economy while protecting what makes it unique
To guide this effort, Ulster County is partnering with Beyond Green Travel to develop a Sustainable Tourism Strategic Plan — a long-term roadmap that will set the vision and priorities for how the county grows its tourism economy while protecting what makes it unique. The plan will identify strategies to strengthen local businesses, enhance transportation and accessibility, reduce environmental impacts, and preserve Ulster County’s distinctive character — from its mountain trails and river towns to its arts, farms, and historic sites.
Developed through collaboration with residents, community leaders, and tourism partners, the Sustainable Tourism Strategic Plan will serve as a blueprint for building a thriving, year-round tourism economy that benefits both visitors and the people who call Ulster County home.
Public Input Sessions
As part of this process, Ulster County Tourism will host three public input sessions to gather ideas and feedback from residents, business owners, and stakeholders across the county. The sessions will be held:
- Monday, October 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM – Reformed Church of New Paltz, Fireside Room, 92 Huguenot Street, New Paltz
- Tuesday, October 28, 2025 – Marlborough Community Center, Community Room, 1520 Route 9W, Marlboro
- Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM – Catskill Visitors Center, 5096 Route 28, Mount Tremper
All are welcome to attend and share their perspectives on how Ulster County can continue to grow tourism in ways that support local communities and preserve the natural and cultural treasures that define the region.
Can't attend an in-person session? Please share your thoughts in the guestbook below.
Did the communities ask Ulster County for even more tourism to be crammed into our neighborhoods, our open spaces, our forests? Who is driving this? Those who profit from it. The language on this page is all catered to the visitor
and is written as a sales pitch. We are not stupid. There are so many wedding venues in Shandaken now, the rail bikes look out of place in our Catskill Mountain Scenic Byway and STR's are still everywhere. What more do you want? We are all scared to drive on Rte. 28 on the weekends because of the heavy increase in traffic. There are no homes left to buy. I don't know what jobs you think the tourist industry is providing us or that it's even all we are worth. I think the County is getting this all wrong. What happens if we have another pandemic and tourism dries up? We can't have an economy rely so heavily on visitors and their money, because it is not sustainable in the long run or very forward thinking. I am angry personally at how tourism has ruined my property, and my neighborhood and I am sure a lot of the community you think can't wait to support this, feel the same as I. I would love to see a breakdown of who really profits from these businesses and companies that cater to tourists, where does all the money go? Also, the company you are teamed up with Beyond Green Travel was bought up in 2020, as you know, by Preferred Hotel Group. Doesn't sound like a group that cares about locals or sustainability to me. They are all about marketing. Stop trying to sell our beautiful Hudson Valley away. It's not a destination, it's our home."
I am personally grateful for the comments left by Molly H., as without them I would not have looked further into Beyond Green and its parent company. Having done so, I am unpersuaded with their disguised ‘green speak’ hype. So let’s drop the hype and call it for what it is: a commercial money-making business. There’s nothing wrong with that, but cloaking it into what many would perceive as having positive outcomes is disingenuous at best.
And speaking of tourism, several years ago a small, somewhat (seemingly insignificant) section of State Hwy 28 in the Town of Shokan abutting the Ashokan Reservoir was paved and turned into a parking lot to enable people to use the trails within the reservoir system. More recently, a solar-powered charging station was added to allow electric vehicle charging. Sounds green, right?
Unfortunately, that undeveloped tiny strip (part of the 8,042 acres owned by DEP) was the site of a significant salamander (and possibly other amphibians) crossing occurring on the first, warm, wet spring night. But no more. A bad day for amphibians and the vernal pools which support them. But good for tourism, right?
The 2025 expansion of DEC’s Freshwater Wetland Regulations update came too late to save this one, tiny, very special ecosystem. How many others are we willing to sacrifice in the name of tourism, even when it’s disguised in green.
On a final note, having these sessions during working hours all but guarantees that people who work a standard workday are unable to attend. Thank you for not dedicating taxpayer dollars to such folly.
Please confirm the time for the Marlboro session. It is not listed here and on the email
it says 3pm. Can that session please be moved to the evening given that the majority of the town will be at work. If it is at 3pm. Thank you.
Are there two meeting on October 28 or is one of those on a different date? Thanks!