SUNY Canton Faculty Member's Research Could Help Boost North Country Tourism

CANTON, NY (11/18/2014)(readMedia)-- A SUNY Canton faculty member's research could help area hospitality and tourism businesses.

Christina Lesyk, who currently teaches Social Sciences courses, is the primary author of three research proposals that have been accepted for presentation at the 20th Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism. The proposals have direct implications on hospitality management and tourism concerns in the Adirondack and Thousand Islands regions.

"One of the proposals uncovers the needs and preferences of female business travelers," Lesyk said. "Women are now the fastest growing segment of business travelers in the United States and are currently involved in 85 percent of household decisions, including leisure travel. A better understanding of this demographic could help create new revenue-generating strategies."

Lesyk also proposes to increase tourism by specifically designing and marketing tourism opportunities for travelers with disabilities, who are a significant part of the hospitality market.

"Historically, it's been very difficult to traverse the Adirondack and Thousand Island regions," she said. "The lack of easily accessible mass transit options has been seen as a deterrent to greater tourism to the area, but interestingly, this may not be as great a deterrent to travelers with disabilities."

Her presentation proposals were co-authored with Eric A. Brown, Ph.D., Thomas Schrier, Ph.D., and Liang Tang, Ph.D., from Iowa State University and Nicholas J. Thomas, Ph.D., from DePaul University.

Lesyk currently teaches both online and face-to-face courses at SUNY Canton. Prior to her SUNY Canton career, she was the lead event coordinator at Clarkson University in Potsdam and has extensive experience in the hospitality field.

She began doctorate studies in Hospitality Management at Iowa State University in June. This is an elite program, which only accepts eight students per year and has been ranked 15th in the world's top 100 hospitality and tourism programs by the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. In October, Lesyk was inducted into Eta Sigma Delta, an international hospitality management honor society that recognizes exceptional academic achievement among hospitality and tourism scholars.

About SUNY Canton

SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as eight exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The college's 14 athletic teams compete as provisional members of the NCAA Division III and the USCAA.

-www.canton.edu-