The summer and early autumn have been very busy with public relations activities including press tours that have resulted in some great articles about Cayuga County and the Finger Lakes Region. Articles have appeared in major media outlets such as Passport News (the #1 magazine in Israel for the travel industry), About.com, the Vancouver Sun, Travel with Val on NY1 and many others. Press tours are no small undertaking to arrange and execute, but they are the only way to give journalists first hand experience of the wonders and beauty of the Finger Lakes, making them essential. A big thank-you to all of our partners who donate their time, goods and services to make these tours happen!

The 2011 Official Guide to Cayuga County is in the works. This winter we did a photo shoot in single digit weather, with our volunteer models braving the elements to give us some great shots to use in the new guide! Thank you to Hilary Ford, Grant Kyle, Jessica & James Cantu, Lauren Chyle and Coco Pearson for coming out on such a cold day! On the other end of the spectrum - the cover photo shoot was done in 90+ degree weather! Editorial updates have been made and our designer, Coburn Design, is already hard at work on creating another fabulous guide to Cayuga County. Expect to see the finished product in January.

Other projects in the works are an update and reprint of our FREE map to Cayuga County that was such a huge hit that all 5,000 have been distributed in less than a year. New this year, will be a 'Color Cayuga' coloring book for the kids, so they can start learning about things to see and do here at an early age.

Once again the editorial staff of Shermans Travel, LLC has voted the Finger Lakes the #1 Top Lakeside Retreat in the world, beating out Lake Como, Italy; the Lake District, England; Lake Kawaguchi, Japan; plus other beautiful spots in the United States, New Zealand and Canada. In addition, Budget Travel magazine has just given the Finger Lakes the "Reader's Choice - Most Beautiful Wine Region in the World" designation. Also, 'Discover Boating' a national awareness campaign developed by the recreational boating industry, listed the Finger Lakes as one of the top spots in the U.S. to view fall colors from a boat! . It looks like the world is finally finding out what we in the Finger Lakes Region have always known!

We are once again participating in VisitRochester's Canadian promotional campaign to attract tourism business from the Ontario region during the autumn and holiday season. This year's campaign 'A Welcome Surprise!' includes printing of 200,000 inserts in the Toronto Star, radio and web advertising, social media presence, brochure distribution at major events in Canada and media outreach through public relations programming. We look forward to keeping Canadian travel to Upstate New York strong and growing with this regional cooperative partnership!

The Cayuga County Office of Tourism is participating in the new Great Lakes Seaway Trail Geotrail, which encourages participants to get outside and experience the scenic, natural, historic and cultural resources of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. Geotrail logbooks and commemorative Geotrail Coins for those that find at least 10 caches along the trail can be obtained at our office. The program has been wildly popular! For more information, visit www.seawaytrail.com/geotrail.

We are once again taking a full-page color cooperative ad in the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance Travel Guide, a comprehensive source of information for potential travelers to the Finger Lakes. The cost to participate is $300 and partners are limited due to space restrictions. To sign up, call the tourism office for a coop advertising form and return it along with your payment by October 22nd. Partners will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Get full-page exposure at a fraction of the cost through this partnership!

In updating our visitor's guide for 2011 we noted so many new tourism related businesses that have opened during the past year that we wanted to share them with you:

• Meeshe's Salon & Spa, Aurora
• All Tied Up Yarns, Auburn
• Downtown Books & Coffee, Auburn
• Sound Monkey Music & Variety, Auburn
• Aurora Arts & Design Center, Aurora
• The Perfect Lampshade, Aurora
• Moro's Table, Auburn
• Emily's, Auburn
• Riverbend Coffee, (Grant Avenue Plaza), Auburn
• Mesagrande Taqueria, Auburn
• Dugan's Country Grill, Aurora
• Izzo's White Barn Winery, Cayuga
• Finger Lakes Golf House B&B
• Chantelle-Marie Lakehouse B&B