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The Business Council of New York State, Inc. supports the following bills that make slight changes to the section of highway law designating wine trails; S.1013 (Little)/A.3758-A (Duprey) to designate a portion of the state highway as the Adirondack Wine Trail; S.3923 (Young)/A.5721 (Goodell) to rename the Chautauqua Wine Trail the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail; and S.2790 (Larkin)/A.4616 (Skoufis) to expand the Shawangunk East Wine Trail.
According to the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, there are 328 wineries in New York State that contribute more than $3.76 billion in economic activity to New York State. This includes more than $230 million in local and state tax revenue and more than $376.5 million in tourist related spending (figures are from 2008). Wine trails have been shown to be a relatively inexpensive yet effective way of attracting tourists to wineries. Organizing and marketing these wine trails is also another way for other businesses in the community to prosper as they would also benefit from the increased traffic and tourists.
For these reasons The Business Council supports these three pieces of legislation.