Visitors to Maine spent more than $9 billion last year, a nearly 5% increase over the previous year, according to the state Office of Tourism.
And though fewer people visited Maine, those who did stayed longer and spent more.
About 15.3 million people visited Maine in 2023, according to the latest tourism data that state officials presented Thursday at the Governor's Conference on Tourism, held in Portland this year.
Steve Lyons, director of the Maine Office of Tourism, said it's possible the rainy summer weather kept that number from being even higher.
"We are a drive market in the state of Maine, and so people can make last minute decisions as to whether they're going to come and visit or not," he said. "But I think overall we did see a return, and we did see the number of people coming back, even though it might have been a little wet to begin the summer."
About 82% of visitors travel to Maine by car, according to the report.
The total number of days that visitors spent in Maine increased by nearly 4% last year. And overall, tourism accounted for a $16.3 billion impact on the Maine economy.
Lyons said Maine's restaurant scene continues to be a major draw for tourists, and state officials will continue to promote Maine as a culinary destination. Visitors spent more than $2.1 billion at restaurants alone in 2023, a 6.6% increase over the previous year.
And while the summer season was strong, state officials said they'd like to see more first-time visitors discover some of Maine's lesser known regions during the offseason, as they did during the recent solar eclipse.
"They were surprised at how interesting these communities were to them, and their willingness to come back and explore more," said Heather Johnson, commissioner for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. "Even local Maine people who went to different communities maybe than they had been to, were like, 'Wow, they had great restaurants, we need to go back there.'"
Travel outside the summer season increased by about 3% last year. Tourism within Maine's lesser-known regions was up nearly 4%.
