Hospitality no small industry in Maine
Back when I was a mere vacationer in Maine, spending a week or two at a time in Castine, my wife and I were always surprised to meet so many people who both lived in Maine and vacationed in Maine. It's a testament to a state that's geographically diverse and filled with attractions of all kinds, from craft breweries to arts-and-crafts workshops, beaches to mountains, snowmobiling to standup paddleboarding.
As we present our hospitality focus, with stories about Acadia National Park and Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer's café at Sunday River Resort, it might also be useful to pull out some stats from the Maine Office of Tourism's recent annual conference.
- Spending on tourism totaled $5.65 billion last year, a 3.2% gain from 2014. Of that, recreation spending saw the biggest jump from a year earlier, rising by 13%, to $505.7 million.
- Visits to Maine totaled 33.85 million, an increase of 2.9%, according to DPA Inc.
- Tourism supports 98,932 jobs, or about 15% of all jobs in Maine.
We have all heard the knock on tourism jobs: They're low paying, seasonal, subject to the whims of the economy and so on. The reality is the industry is growing. You never want to say we have unlimited resources, but tourism certainly has room to grow in Maine. (For a contrast, check out Jim McCarthy's cover story about the logging industry and its decline of jobs.)
It turns out the notion that people live and vacation in Maine is well founded. Another finding from the Maine Office of Tourism's recent conference was that 95% of Maine residents have taken a vacation more than 50 miles away, in Maine. Some 71% of Mainers have taken a Maine vacation within the past year. And we all know this routine, well-practiced in August: 89% of Mainers have encouraged someone to visit Maine, hosted out-of-state visitors or recommended a Maine vacation destination to others.
Last in, first out
Boat building is one of first sectors to get hurt by an economic downturn and is one of the last to recover. In recent months, readers of Mainebiz have seen some evidence that the sector is on the rebound.
Lyman Morse of Thomaston bought the Wayfayer boat yard in Camden and is upgrading the site. Morris Yachts was sold to Hinckley Yachts. The Robinhood Marine Center in Georgetown was sold for $4 million to an investor group that includes Derecktor Shipyards, which has operations in New York and Florida and, for the 1987 America's Cup, produced the Dennis Connor-captained Stars & Stripes that won back the cup from the Aussies.
The recent prosperity was in evidence at his year's Maine Boatbuilders Show in Portland. There seemed to be a bit more optimism in the air (if that's possible to measure). I was particularly struck by the display of Everglades luxury yachts. You're welcome to climb on board most of the yachts, with shoes off, but after coming off one yacht I felt maybe white gloves might have also been in order: it was listed at a “show special” of $689,000.
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