A new online Adirondack recreational tourism planning tool to promote attractions in the Adirondack Region and spur economic development opportunities is at www.VisitAdirondacks.com.

The site was created in a partnership of cross-regional organizations -- The Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages, Center for Economic Growth, and Central Adirondack Partnership for the 21st Century -- and funded through the area’s Regional Economic Development Councils.

The web portal will provide residents and travelers to New York’s six-million-acre park, which spans parts of the North Country, Mohawk Valley and Capital regions, with the ability to map their visit with a concise list of recreational opportunities, amenities, lodging, and restaurants, as well as off-the-beaten-path attractions and travel preferences, via the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council’s official website, VisitAdirondacks.com.

A mobile app is scheduled to launch in the coming weeks and will provide on-the-go users with the same planning options available on the portal.

Available via several spots on VisitAdirondacks.com, the recreational portal can be found on the homepage’s main menu (“Come Play”), at the bottom of the Outdoor Recreation page, and on the sidebar of the First Time Visitors page. Users can search and connect with data that is specifically targeted to them based on travel criteria such as family travel, traveling with pets, handicap accessibility, seasonal recreation, geographic areas within the park, and recreation type like snowmobiling trails, downhill skiing and snowboarding. With each selection, the user is presented with a list of what’s nearby, including recreation opportunities, lodging, dining, shopping, and other attractions.

The portal adopts strategies developed by the Adirondack Partnership’s Adirondack Park Recreation Strategy Group and was identified as a regional priority project by the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

Co-chair of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council, Clarkson University President Tony Collins, said, “As a constitutionally protected area, forty-eight percent of the land inside the Adirondack Park belongs to all of the people of New York. This new recreation portal highlights the tremendous access we all have to one of the special places on the planet as well as drives responsible job growth in the private sector for the residents in our own immediate regions.”