Why did tourism in the Catskills die out?

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I was just looking at a before and after picture of some resort areas, and I’m puzzled.

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11 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

tourism to the area didnt die out; HOW people tour the area changed. resorts were very popular in the 50s-80s but after that, they largely got replaced by hotels/motels and now the short term rental property.

some of the popular and well run resorts were able to find a niche to remain open and compete; but many didnt

Anonymous 0 Comments

Air-conditioning and cheap air travel.

Like the Poconos and Berkshires, The Catskills thrived as middle/upper middle class summer getaways for New Yorkers because it was cooler in the mountains than the sweltering city, and because they could be reached within a few hours – initially by train and later by car.

But the advent of widespread residential air conditioning made staying in the city through the hot summer months more comfortable for the well-to-do. And, by the 60s and 70s, lower cost passenger air travel meant more convenient access to, frankly, superior summer tourist destinations, including western Europe. The market dried up and many (eventually most) resorts shut down.

The other thing that must be said about Catskills tourism in particular is that there was a large Jewish element to it. To some extent, Jewish families traveled to the Catskill “Borscht Belt” resorts in the 30s and 40s because, well, it was a destination that was safe for them to travel to, and they did so with other members of their community (e.g. you’d go to the same resort as your aunt’s family, your neighbors, your dad’s navy buddy, etc). But by the 60s and 70s when the next generation came of age, the state of the world didn’t feel quite so limiting to them, and the social fabric of neighborhood Jewish life changed with assimilation and modernity. So they began to prefer other spots and types for tourism.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Until the 1960’s, the Catskills were a popular vacation spot for middle class families in New York to go in the summers. Air travel was very expensive and only for the rich, and middle class families would only go where they could drive for vacations.

Then once large jets came on the scene, that made air travel affordable for the middle class. When it did, Northern and Midwestern families could go to Florida, California, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Europe for vacation instead of the Catskills and other resorts within driving distance, and those places declined.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Along with what other people have said, climate change has impacted the area.

I grew up near there, went to college just north of there and still have friends in the area.

The weather has been disastrous for tourism for the last 20-25 years. There were a lot of very rainy summers and a lot of businesses couldn’t handle multiple bad years. As businesses close, people have less reason to go. Less people go, even more businesses can’t last.

And the winters have totally changed up here too. In the 80s they would put down a little fake snow once in a while. Then it was a bit more often and a bit more. Then the “seasons” for skiing and snowboarding started getting shorter. I have friends who said this was the last year they would do season passes because they just wasn’t enough snow/good weekends to go.

Anonymous 0 Comments

So as someone from the south, that has only ever heard of the catskills as how you’re referring, as a once popular tourist destination, are there still nice places to go and things to do up there?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Quite a few fancy resorts and hotels in the US didn’t accept Jewish guests or had weird restrictions on them. For instance, you might be able to eat at the restaurant but not swim in the pool. Groucho Marx was once told at a resort that he couldn’t swim in the pool because he was Jewish, and he said, “My daughter is half Jewish. Can she go in up to her navel?”

I’ve read the resorts in the “Borscht belt” were created in response to this. Jewish people wanted someplace they could actually go in the summer to get out of the heat, someplace where they were allowed to use all the facilities and would be treated with respect.

As race and religion-based restrictions on who could stay at resorts and hotels disappeared, travelers had more choices, which unfortunately took away some of the market for specialty resorts such as the ones in the Catskills.

(If I’m mistaken about any of this I’m open to being corrected, but this is what I’ve heard in the past.)

Anonymous 0 Comments

Who remembers the Nevele Grand?

Anonymous 0 Comments

Same reason that the seaside towns of the UK died.

1. Cheap air travel and/or cruises, why would you go to a dumpy local resort for the twentieth time when you can go to the Caribbean for the same price, see the other side of the world, or whatever you dream of.

2. Lack of investment and failure to keep up with changing tastes and demands. The kitschy sing-a-long camp vibe just lost its draw by the 70s when society was much less about gathering socially and much more about the individual family.

3. The rise of “resort cities” over countryside resorts. See Atlantic City, Vegas, or Orlando. Why people holidayed and what they wanted out of it changed (see point 2) and new options and variety became available.

I do think there might be a comeback though – I would certainly much prefer something more like the good old fashioned summer camp in the countryside.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Air conditioning… You don’t need to escape the heat if you can keep your house nice and cool.

Ease of travel longer distances… Interstate highways, cheaper airline flights, etc. opened up more options other than just some nearby mountains.

A relaxing of anti-Jewish sentiment… A lot of those resorts in the Catskills catered to Jewish folks who were not welcome elsewhere.