Maine tourism shrank 27% last year, hampered by pandemic restrictions

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 4, 2021

Visitation to Maine dropped by about 27 percent compared with the year before to roughly 12 million day and overnight visitors, the Maine Office of Tourism estimated. The drop is considerable, considering Maine’s streak of record-breaking tourism years, but better than the doomsday scenario predicted in the pandemic’s early days. Total spending on restaurants, lodging, shopping and other activities fell by the same proportion as visitation, to about $4.8 billion. The total economic impact including earnings and taxes also fell, to about $9 billion from more than $12 billion the year before.