Now in its fourth year, the annual survey aims to gauge perceptions, opinions and overall sentiment about a number of topics related to tourism within the region, according to ROOST Chief Operating Officer Mary Jane Lawrence. She said that the data helps ROOST make better-informed decisions to promote tourism in a way that’s most beneficial to the communities it serves.

The online survey is available surveymonkey.com/r/T27P8BJ. The 31-question survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete and includes “agree or disagree” multiple-choice questions, along with optional open-ended responses, according to ROOST. Those who take part will be registered for a chance to win a $100 VISA gift card. The survey is open through Oct. 31.

Lawrence said that as a destination marketing organization, much of ROOST’s time is inherently spent engaging with and eliciting feedback from visitors. She said it’s critical to balance that with staying connected with the communities and those who live there. The idea is to understand how the tourism industry can better serve that.

“When you are in a marketing and destination management organization, there has to be a lot of concerted effort and work toward staying connected to the community,” she said.

As ROOST has done with the past three surveys, Lawrence said the results will be published in aggregate — meaning individuals will not be associated with the data, but the overall results will be released. Past survey results are available at roostadk.com/research.

Lawrence said it’s just one piece of the puzzle ROOST uses for making its decisions, but it’s an important one, beginning with understanding the demographics of who’s participating.

“Just starting at the beginning, who’s taking the survey?” she said. “Is it second homeowners, is it part-time residents, is it full-time residents? Are they people who have lived here for a long time, or not very long? Do they work full-time, are they retired? So, just getting an idea of who is taking the survey is helpful.”

Analyzing trends over time to the same questions and trends in the response pool is also important for ROOST. While the survey might be a snapshot in time, Lawrence said comparing it to past years is helpful. For instance, the increase in responses that felt that short-term rentals were driving up housing costs.

“We knew that there was an impact on short-term rentals and second homeowners on housing, and the cost of housing,” she said.

While ROOST is not a governmental body, Lawrence said they can offer this data to help municipalities make decisions. Not only does ROOST dedicate a lot of resources to data-gathering, but working with communities across a multi-county area in the Adirondacks allows it to gather and share ideas and facilitate conversations between local governments who might be facing similar issues or are considering similar solutions.

Lawrence said ROOST can also share this information with private businesses, citing the housing shortage as another example of how the survey information can help communities.

“That information leads us to then putting something together that we can deliver to developers and say, ‘Here — this is a study that shows exactly what’s needed, where the demand is,'” she said.

In a statement, ROOST data analyst Layne Dowdall said when it comes to responses, the more the merrier.

“The more people who take the survey, the clearer picture we’ll have of how our communities feel about the impact of tourism,” she said. “We’re encouraging anyone who receives the survey link to share it with family and friends in their community.”