The Lake George region’s 2026 summer tourism season is almost as strong as last year’s, but early lodging figures suggest the rapid growth of recent years is slowing.
Warren County lodging demand increased 0.3% in July compared with July 2025, while lodging revenue rose 0.8%. Occupancy slipped 0.5%, however, as the supply of available rooms increased 0.8%. Average daily room rates rose 0.4%.
Year-to-date occupancy remained ahead of 2025, but only modestly, county officials said. Asked whether occupancy was up year over year, a representative of the Treasurer’s office said it was, but “not by a lot.”
Among the possible reasons for a flagging tourism economy: higher costs for housing, groceries, energy and health care.
The average New York household has faced more than $5,000 in additional costs for goods and services since 2025, according to calculations released by the Democratic staff of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee on August 26.
The slight increase in this summer’s occupancy figures stand in sharp contrast with the substantial growth that characterized the Lake George tourism economy up through 2025.
According to a newly released report from the New York State Division of Tourism, visitors spent $956.6 million in Warren County in 2025, up 3.1% from $928.2 million in 2024 and nearly $202 million more than the $755 million spent in 2021, according to Tourism Economics, which prepares the annual Economic Impact of Visitors to New York study for the state.
A comparable report for 2026 will not be available until 2027 at approximately this time of year.
According to the report, the regional tourism economy may also be flagging in part because of declining Canadian visitation. International arrivals to New York fell 6.3% in 2025, with Canadian visitor spending dropping 28%, from $1.71 billion to $1.23 billion, a decline of roughly $480 million in one year.
Clinton County, which borders Quebec, saw a 4% decline in visitor spending from 2024 to 2025.
The state’s tourism report is silent as to whether the drop in revenue is tied directly to the deterioration of cross-border relations
Nevertheless, northern New York business and political leaders appear to have little doubt that the troubled state of U.S.-Canada relations is having negative impacts on the economy of the North Country.
The Plattsburgh-based North Country Chamber of Commerce said it has responded with a campaign aimed at reassuring Canadian companies and travelers that they remain welcome in northern New York.
Spending in Lake George Rose in 2025, but Still Trailed Lake Placid,
Lake Placid topped Lake George as the Adirondack region’s highest grossing tourism market for a third consecutive year in 2025, the most recent period for which statistics are available.
In 2025, according to reports released by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office in August, 2026, Essex County generated $988.4 million in tourism sales, up from $964 million in 2024. Lake George was responsible for 37% of all sales in the Adirondacks, generating $956 million in tourism spending, up from $928 in 2024, $887.8 million in 2023 and $859 million in 2022.
Essex County was responsible for 39% of all tourism sales in the Adirondacks in 2025.
Lake George and Warren County’s other seasonal communities were responsible for the highest level of spending by second homeowners in the Adirondacks, generating $101.1 million in revenues, up from $96.3 million in 2024 and $91.3 million in 2023.
Spending by second homeowners throughout the Adirondacks was worth $370 million in 2025, up from $350 million in 2024 and $334.1 million in 2023 and $314 million in 2022, the researchers from the firm Tourism Economics found.
Historically, the Lake George region has been the engine driving the Adirondack tourism economy. In 2018, for instance, it was responsible for generating 42 percent of the region’s tourism revenue, the largest share of any county, according to Tourism Economics. Essex County, with 33 percent, had the second largest share, followed.by Clinton, Franklin, Hamilton and Lewis counties, in that order.
Between 2019 and 2022, through the height (or depths) of the pandemic, tourism exploded in the Adirondacks. Travelers’ spending between 2019 and 2022 grew by 141% after declining by 15% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In 2024, visitors spent nearly $2.5 billion in the Adirondacks, up slightly from $2.3 billion in 2023, which was a 7% increase over 2022.
The decrease in the size of the Lake George region’s share of “the tourism pie” may be due to the declining popularity of events such as Americade and attractions such as Great Escape, or perhaps to the state’s investment in Olympic facilities and winter sports competition in Lake Placid.
Lake George continues to produce the highest number of tourism-related jobs: 8,695 in 2025, up from 8,610 in 2024, 8,448 in 2023 and 8,174 in 2022.
According to a press release from the Warren County Tourism Department, tourism now accounts for 23.5% of all employment in Warren County.
Tourism-generated personal income was also higher in Warren County in 2025 than in any other Adirondack county: $401.3 million, up from $382 million.
Tourism generated $60.1 million in local tax revenue, up 3.4 percent, and $57.1
million in state tax revenue, up 4.7 percent, the Tourism Department’s press release stated.
“These numbers demonstrate that tourism is more than an important part of Warren County’s economy. It strengthens businesses throughout the county and generates tax revenue that benefits every resident. Nearly $1 billion in annual visitor spending reflects the collective work of our tourism businesses, workforce and communities to make the Lake George Area a destination people continue to choose,” said Warren County Tourism Director Heather Bagshaw.
