Drapkin: "opportunity to market"

LIVINGSTON MANOR – Sullivan County may be prospering, in some ways, with the likes of Bethel Woods, the redevelopment of the Concord Hotel complex and some other new businesses.

But, Jonathan Drapkin, president of Pattern for Progress, a regional planning and think tank organization, told the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting in Livingston Manor Thursday night that there is another niche that could be explored.

“There is, and has been, a very strong second home market in the Hudson Valley; it’s especially true in Sullivan County,” he said. “I think that there will be a greater opportunity to market, especially to small businesses and restaurants and others to people coming up to their second homes.”

Drapkin told the business people there is an opportunity for them to market differently to people who are in the area “but we haven’t done a particularly good job reaching out to.” Often business caters to tourists, but may not realize the potential of the second home market.