From campgrounds to attractions, from lodging & restaurant to retail, and education enrollment to cultural attractions, most of the industry said the same thing:  good May and June, soft July, strong August and Labor Day....in some cases, record–breaking.

Many thanks to our “reporters” below for giving us their late summer perspectives from around the state.

From Jayne O’Connor with the White Mountains Attractions Association:
How was business this summer?  Reports from area businesses have been overall very positive, with one innkeeper telling me the summer "more than made up for the tough winter we had last year."

We had a good mix of weather for the many types of businesses here in the White Mountains - which gave us our usual balancing act. There was sunshine for the mountain rides and amusement parks, cool weather for the trains, hot days for the water rides and just enough rain mixed in to help the restaurants and retail shops. Campgrounds did well, once the season got under way.  Most of the attractions are reporting business was even or up from last year.

Canadians Welcome! Our Canadian inquiries were up by 20% percent this year, and many businesses told us they saw a dramatic increase in Canadian business. WMAA increased its investment in Canadian marketing starting two years ago, when we saw promising changes in the exchange rate. Now we are seeing Canadian visitors in numbers we haven't seen for 30 years.  Mikey Duprey has also been attending Canadian travel shows, and making sales calls there to help bring business over the border. We'll continue that for next year, as the exchange rate is expected to remain favorable for at least another couple years.  

From Robin Comstock with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce:
It has been a great summer, but given that Manchester is the gateway to the state, and we are a year-round destination, each season is a great season.  We are seeing growth in the individual and family travelers, who use Manchester as the hub for the NH experience, and our meetings and conferences are off the charts. We are adding room inventory with new properties, and still filling our space on are regular basis. Our Welcome Center walk-in traffic is up…things are good in the Queen City!

From Denise Meadows with the EF Lane Hotel in Keene and our ear-to-the-ground for the Monadnock Region:
The B & Bs reported a very busy summer, with record-breaking occupancy for July & August.  The EF Lane Hotel occupancy was down this summer, but we saw many repeat guests. Not many travelers from overseas, but the usual suspects from MA, CT, NY, NJ and PA. Keene is now going around and around smoothly with both of our summer construction of round-a-bouts almost over.

Peterborough has been named one of the top ten "Coolest Towns in the Country" by Budget Travel Magazine, and many people are checking out the Monadnock region for relocation.
Read on ...

As the summer of 2007 gives way to fall, travel and tourism businesses are turning to email marketing to generate business in the off-season.  Small travel and tourism businesses list their top challenges as:  finding new customers (42 %), generating business in the off-season (27 %), and filling rooms/seats (13%).  47% of those businesses surveyed by Constant Contact identified email marketing as the most effective way to address these challenges and market their businesses.  Yes, this survey was conducted by an email marketing program, but lots of us are using it, and this information is really interesting.  Be sure to scroll down to the actual survey results.  Read on…

Sales professionals who say they love cold calling are like pro athletes who say they love sit-ups, weight training and wind sprints. 
Liars.  Read on… 

The idea that franchises, especially those in the fast-food sector, create dead-end jobs is widespread. Comedians like David Letterman joke about it. Muckrakers write books about it (think Fast Food Nation or Nickel and Dimed). The common assumption is that many franchises provide "lousy jobs," with low pay, few benefits and limited opportunities for training and advancement.   But is that really the case?  Read on….

The Travel Council has revised membership levels and benefits for businesses to join and receive special rates on the Annual Governor's Conference and our monthly newsletter in addition to listing of up to five key employees in our new online membership listing.

These listings will include contact information for up to five key employees and website links. If you are a new member of the New Hampshire Travel Council or have recently renewed your membership at our current rates, please complete this member information form.  If you are not a member and would like to receive these new benefits, you may click to review membership rates and benefits and register online.

Speaking of our website, we are also designing a Press Room that will serve as a clearing house for news that would be of interest to your industry colleagues as well as to the general public.  If you have news that we can use, please email to news@NHTravelCouncil.com.

Do You Have News?

We welcome submissions that would be of statewide interest, or articles that you would like to share that address trends, forecasts, marketing tips, etc. that pertain to the various segments of our industry. Please send information for consideration to Susan Logan, a member of the Travel Council's Board of Directions, and Editor of this newsletter: susan@nhtourismnetwork.com

Thanks!
Susan Logan, Editor, News You Can Use!
Member, NHTC Board of Directors