Maine tourism, welcome to Vacationland.
Maine small towns are proud of their unique area of the state. Tourism in Maine accounts for about 6.4% percent of the state’s economy. I know, that low a figure surprised me too. Or made me think we could bump it up to way more Maine tourists traveling across the big green bridge.
All this space, no crime, no traffic. Plenty of eye candy. But still the tourism dollar numbers are impressive. Tourists pump over 8.6 billion dollars a year into the local Maine economy. One out of seven Maine jobs are tourism related. Maine tourism creates 151,000 plus employment opportunities to bring home the bacon.
The towns in Maine most memorable are the ones where the entire population wears an ambassador hat.
Putting on a genuine smile. Greeting the day with a healthy attitude of wanting to be helpful. Rolling out the red carpet welcome mat means putting yourself in the shoes of a tourist.
Really friendly, warm and helpful is something any new to your area visitor never forgets.
Returning trips to the small Maine town happen with frequency when the folks you bump into on vacation go all out to be the best tour guides.
The Maine folks you meet from the hospitality industry in the local lodging and dining sector have to provide first class service.
Can’t be hit or miss or depending on which way the wind happens to be blowing casual. Sincere, empathetic, sensitive to help the brand new tourist visitor have a quality stay in Maine.
Like any vacation, a brand new to your area traveler wants to explore, sample the local home grown food, to tap into the recreation. Maybe to just be left alone and veg. And usually to rest up from the very hectic week before they tidy up all the business affairs. For the pack the pack and ready or not here I go.
Take the vacation in Maine.
Life will not end if you take a break to unplug, recharge and change the scenery and routine you practice day and night on the hamster wheel right?
You and I travel for the memories, the sights in a different setting. To try out the new culture that is not the same old same old.
Change of pace and to shake up the drill to shake off the cobwebs. To see how the rest of the World lives and what they do for downtime fun. Family vacations for couples on a budget with young children are taught travel is part of life.
Maine vacations.
Great exercise too if you like to walk, hike, bike, climb, paddle, sail or whatever mode of transportation.
But how to do a Maine vacation cheaply requires discipline and a strict budget.
And asking for help from the local Maine population that live in this section of Vacationland to guide your spending and to learn what there is to do for fun.
Saving your everyday spending dollars frugally frees up the money. The green stuff earmarked for a Maine vacation.
Feed back to the Maine hospitality service providers is critical. To learn what your customers liked on vacation and what was missing only helps shape better future stays for small Maine town travelers.
Plus your travel taps into lots of other service providers. You want to hear what they are doing right or wrong so you can adjust the dials for better performance. According to Maine government officials, state annual tourism visits show a 10 percent increase.
Nightly lodging stays in Maine are up 18 percent.
What do people want to do for fun, what do they consider entertainment?
Go to a local museum? Farmers markets, paddling a kayak on a bottle smooth Maine lake? To hike the trails up Baxter State park or ride a bike on miles of roads spanned by classic stone bridges around Acadia? To admire the four season space not crowded with wall to wall tourists? Maine is different than Disney Land or Cony Island, Las Vegas, most other places.
Some folks buy an existing vacation property needing work and have fun with the real estate make over.
Why not own your Maine vacation property spot and possible rent it out to others with a careful background check and healthy deposits taken?
Sitting around an open fire at a Maine waterfront setting.
Enjoying a hot or cold beverage on an open porch watching Maine wildlife. Too slow paced and not action packed enough for you? Maine’s unspoiled four season setting make it low or no cost which only enhances a stay in Vacationland. Try paddling through the river rapids on the Penobscot, Dead, Kennebec Rivers for some adventure.
What’s the weather forecast and being ready to pivot to a plan “B” and “C” if needed.
Not jamming so much into the Maine vacation schedule so whoever you are sharing it with does not revolt. grumble or worse mutiny.
Vacationing 101… everyone does it differently but a little help from local Mainers to suggest what should be on the itinerary is helpful.
Making it worth the money and time spent to vacation in Maine hinges on the people you meet along the way.
When I was Houlton Maine Chamber of Commerce president, marketing the town for tourism was huge.
Thinking like a brand new traveler wandering into town. What would he or she need besides a warm feeling that they were welcome? How to help the new to your area tourists not waste their short time and hard earned dollars in your Maine home town? Showcasing what there is to do for fun wherever you live in Maine is huge.
So much on the list may not be your personal favorite but what do the vacation audience members want to achieve from this vacation getaway stay?
See sunrises, sunsets like no other. Meet a Maine moose, see a bald eagle, strap on a bib to eat a steamed lobster. Sample a whoopie pie or slice of blueberry filled anything. Pick up souvenirs with Maine splashed across them.
How to get a Maine tourist to stick around for a stretch of days and to return for more?
To share their enjoyment with their inner circle of friends to expand on the local Maine tourism traffic to your zip code. Regional tourism and helping tourist travelers “build” an itinerary that includes more than just your corner of Maine is how state tourism dollars increase.
I just got back from a vacation to London England and Edinburgh Scotland.
Meg, her mom and I learned a lot and got lots of exercise. How each tourism stop markets itself observed. Online and after you get there. Do you get a sense that the tour operator, restaurant, lodge owner has hospitality training?
Is the individual providing the service you need? Or on their phone more than spending time with the “how can I help you?”. Meg and I did a lot of planning online and sorted through a lot of marketing, reviews, eyeball the media available. Again, what to do for fun is not the same list of responses for everyone polled.
Maine vacations are hard to beat and this is where our heart is.
But wandering and discovery, just travel anywhere is good for the soul. Take a lot of excursions that are low hanging fruit across the border from Maine into bordering Canadian provinces.
The trip to cross the pond flying Delta to London England and Virgin Airlines back to the Logan Airport in Boston MA was different too.
Not because of jet lag or lack of hydration or sleep. Did it by the book. But like the flight experience, the dining, train travel, the museums, historical and scenery experience were not the same either. Like a movie or book you remember for days after you finish it. There is a reason why and all of us harvest different take aways looking back on any vacation.
Our bus tour guide to Sterling Castle Paul gave us the history lesson on Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert the Bruce, Kelpies, Nessie the monster folklore.
In between hearing Scottish local historic information about the clans, Paul was awesome. All the information served up from a Scotsman while driving the bus along the highland country sides dotted with sheep. There was music. Fill from Paul’s playlist shared with our group added to the local Scottish immersion.
The Chieftains, Proclaimers, Annie Lennox, Simple Minds and other artists on the small bus ride with the panoramic windows made it memorable. We were not in Kansas or Maine or stateside anymore.
Ran into one fellow wearing a kilt who we asked are you cold? He smiled and quickly retorted “it’s not cold, this is Scotland”. Overall the weather was a lot warmer than everyone in London and Edinburgh remembers just like here in the Maine.
This trip made me really think about the new to Maine traveler and all the maps, GPS tools available to guide them.
And in my small town in Northern Maine, how to beef up the technology to create a digital guide to help travelers more completely.
The reviews on places to stay, the Maine attractions, where to eat, etc are all well and good. There are lots of happy, crabby and in between remarks and tourism propaganda to sort through building your Maine vacation experience. But what are your expectations and are they reasonable for the time and money available?
Everyone who lives, works and plays in Maine wears a tourism fire in my belly hat. Or should.
I am proud of where I live and want to share why.
That is a big part of what the Me In Maine blog is all about right? To help shape vacations in Maine for others looking for rest, relaxation, entertainment, culinary delight. And to save them money in the process to help assure the Maine vacation is the best it can be.
All the locals pitch in and because we are not over crowded or withdrawn, the travel to Maine is a lot more relaxed for everyone involved.
Low population and less online to glean and study forces small town Maine vacations to be kept simple.
Instead of a commercialized Disney Land of expensive vacation package options to slide, scroll and display on your device, rural Maine if naturally different.
Less four color glassy tri-fold tourism paperwork to eyeball. The approach to peddling Maine tourism has to be creative. Limited resources and careful spending is the Maine frugal way.
In Maine, there are a handful of cities and over 450 small communities.
Well oiled Chamber of Commerce resources are not always so plentiful online. To use in connecting the dots and reading between the lines to shape up your planned Maine vacation.
But ask a local Mainer who is helpful and more than willing to suggest vacation options for your day and weekend ahead. Don’t just rely on skimpy online reviews and limited blog posts, videos, websites to tell the Maine vacation story.
Taken any interesting trips or are you over due for some R&R?
Are you planning to attend the Houlton Maine total solar eclipse April 8th, 2024?
Reach out and here for questions about anything Maine.
Please consider you are personally invited and on the VIP invite list for a solar eclipse visit or whenever you can take the trek to Maine. Would love to meet any of your blog post followers and here for questions or tips in getting around, where to go, what the options are!
This total eclipse in Houlton Maine is the last stop for totality in the USA. Maine tourism, something that goes not happen again in my lifetime. No better spot to experience the total solar eclipse than in Houlton Maine, Aroostook County!
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA
