Tourism officials project that New Hampshire will welcome 3.45 million visitors this summer and rake in $1.8 billion dollars, crediting high vaccination rates and a pent-up demand for travel.
This is good news for the state’s tourism industry, which suffered from a 15% decline in visitors last summer.
New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association President and CEO Mike Somers said in 2020 through November the loss in business to the hospitality and tourism industry was more than $775 million, a loss of about $70 million in rooms and meals tax.
“That’s a significant amount of money both for the industry and for the state,” he said.
Lori Harnois, New Hampshire’s state director of tourism, said the division of Travel and Tourism Development is launching a summer advertising campaign to stoke Granite State wanderlust. The digital campaign will target states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio and will emphasis hiking, boating and kid-friendly activities.
“Tourism is a critical part of New Hampshire’s economy,” said Taylor Caswell, commissioner of N.H. Department of Business and Economic Affairs. “It creates jobs, generates income and helps attract new residents to New Hampshire as a great place to live and work. Everyone in the industry should be proud of the job they’ve done to not only help the tourism industry survive, but also thrive.”