Discover Long Island Says Tumbleweed Tuesday Is a Thing of the Past

East End business owners have even given it a name: Tumbleweed Tuesday — the day after Labor Day — and it is a sad day for many of them indeed.

Tora Matsuoka, owner of Sag Harbor’s popular Sen restaurant, recalls in past years standing on the porch of his eatery on Labor Day and waving goodbye to the departing crowds and hoping his business would survive the winter months.

Worse, Matsuoka, 43, a principal at Seasoned Hospitality, which owns Sen and other East End restaurants, remembers having to let staff go after the unofficial end of summer.

“It was painful,” Matsuoka told Dan’s Papers. “I feel personally responsible” for the staff.

After the crowds leave, the business owners say there is nothing left but tumbleweeds.

Discover Long Island, the region’s largest tourism promotion organization, has unveiled plans to address the issues that many East End restaurants, hotels and other spots face once summer ends: the loss of business once weekenders and those spending the season here head for home.

At the Southampton Inn this past summer, Discover Long Island president Kristen Reynolds, joined by East End business owners, outlined plans that focus on using digital billboards in Times Square to capture New York City visitors during the peak tourism season – Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. According to tourism experts, some 6 million people visit the city during that period.

Reynolds said plans also include taking ads in Playbills on Broadway and at Lincoln Center. Discover Long Island also plans to place ads on top of New York City’s fleet of taxicabs and will make use of “geo-fencing,” sending messages to mobile devices at popular destinations in the city, telling users about the fall and winter season on the East End.

The campaign will make use of added airline travel to the region. Breeze Airways, a low-cost carrier, recently announced new destinations to Jacksonville and Vero Beach, Florida from Long Island MacArthur Airport in Bohemia. JetBlue will also start flying out of MacArthur in October, serving Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

While Discover Long Island’s tourism campaign will talk about spots in Nassau and Western Suffolk, it will focus on the East End, Reynolds said.

Discover Long Island, she said, is working off a $300,000 budget from Suffolk County. The money comes from a portion of hotel and motel taxes.

This Discover Long Island program comes on the heels of one of the most successful summer seasons on Long Island in years.

According to New York State’s annual Tourism Economics report, travelers spent an eye-popping $7.5 billion in the Long Island region in 2023, topping the $6.6 billion spent in 2022 – a 12.7% increase.

The Island saw about 41.8 million tourists in 2023, according to a report by Longwoods International, an Ohio market-research firm. More than half, 23.1 million, were day-trippers, and 18.7 million stayed at hotels or motels overnight.

Despite the rise in tourism, Reynolds said Discover Long Island’s plan is to make certain people do not forget about the East End after Labor Day.

“People just need to be reminded that the fall and winter are the best time of the year out here,” Reynolds said. “This (campaign) is something we always wanted to do.”

The Longwood study found that Long Island had strong name recognition overall, but many people responding to a survey perceived the region “to be more urban, smoggy and congested.”

“Once readers learned of the types of tourism product and activities available, the perception and intent to visit or consider relocation sharply increased,” the report said.

East End businesses and tourism leaders have been pleading for help for years.

“People don’t realize the arts places are open 12 months a year,” said Christina Strassfield, executive director of the Southampton Arts Center. “You can come out here and see a movie. You can go to a bookstore. And you don’t need to worry about parking” as much as during the summer season.

Dede Gotthelf, owner of the Southampton Inn, who played a key role in urging Discover Long Island to launch a tourism campaign, said the East End is perfect for those who don’t want to travel to Florida or California.

“We hope this campaign will let people know about the beauty of the East End,” Gotthelf said. “We just want people to know we don’t roll up the sidewalks after Labor Day.”