Were you aware that tourism is the leading economic industry in the state of Maine, and cultural heritage tourism is its fastest growing sector?
For the year ending 2023, 8.5 million tourists made an overnight trip to Maine, spending more than $9 billion with an overall economic impact of $16 billion. This means for 2023, tourism supported 131,000 Maine jobs and paid $5.7 billion in Maine wages. Every 117 visitors support a job in Maine.
The Maine Office of Tourism has divided the state into eight regions. These regions then receive funding from tourism tax revenues to market tourism within each region. Aroostook County Tourism is one of those eight regions.
Statistics for the first two quarters of 2024 are now available from the Maine Office of Tourism. Aroostook County only receives about 3 percent of all tourists visiting Maine. However, while tourism in Maine was down overall for the first quarter, it was up in Aroostook County. This may possibly be attributed to the eclipse that took place in April.
For the most part, Maine is a “drive” market, meaning most visitors travel to Maine by car. For summer 2024 (May through August), Maine had 7,756,000 visitors, resulting in direct spending of $5.2 billion.
Almost 97 percent of visitors to Maine come from the New England region and Florida. The average age of visitors to Maine is 41 years of age. Of these visitors, 56 percent are male, 90 percent are white, 48 percent are college or tech school graduates, 76 percent are employed full-time, and 55 percent are married or living with a partner.
Of the visitors to Aroostook County, 80 percent are repeat visitors. Of those, 27 percent have visited two to five times, 25 percent have visited six to 10 times and 37 percent have visited 11 times or more.
Most visitors — 97 percent — reported that they were satisfied with their visit, citing the friendliness of people, customer service, authentic and unique communities, activities and attractions. Almost all (99 percent) indicated that they will return.
In light of the significant impact of tourism dollars to Maine and our region, it is important to remember that each and every one of us are ambassadors and customer service is incredibly important. Keep up the great job, Aroostook.
Kimberly R. Smith is the resource development and public information officer for the city of Presque Isle. She can be reached at 760-2722 or via email at ksmith@presqueisleme.us.
