Vermont Sees Mixed Results, Positive Indicators From DNC

Vermont Sees Mixed Results, Positive Indicators From DNC
MONTPELIER, Vt. - Unpredictable weather appears to have had a dampening
effect on the expected surge of visitors from the Boston area to Vermont
during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), but state officials say
there are many positive indicators showing that the Vermont message was,
and
continues to be, well received.
"Weather has clearly been a factor all summer, and has particularly
impacted
those events and attractions that are weather dependent and we suspect
this
was true during the DNC as well," said Vermont Tourism and Marketing
Commissioner Bruce Hyde. Hyde said that the good news is that people
appear
to be responding to the state's marketing efforts and that Vermont's
overall
tourism economy continues to perform well in relation to many other
states.
Among the positive indicators, Hyde said that inquiries from
Massachusetts
to the 1-800 VERMONT tourism line in the period preceding the Democratic
National Convention were up more than 300% over the same period in 2003.
Similarly, Hyde said page views on the Department's VermontVacation.com
website in July were up 25% over July 2003. In the five days leading up
to
the beginning of the DNC, the site's page views were up 59% over the
same
period a year ago and on July 24, the Saturday before the Convention
began,
VermontVacation.com received more than 53,000 page views, up 142% over
July
24, 2003.
"The results this summer have been very mixed with some businesses
reporting
above average to very good summers, others saying they are down
significantly, and others saying that they are flat compared with last
year," Hyde said. "On one end of the spectrum you have Vermont Teddy
Bear
reporting record sales on a rainy Tuesday and on the other end of the
scale,
our state parks continue to suffer high numbers of cancellations despite
good advance bookings this spring."
Another indication of the mixed results is that traffic through the
state's
Welcome Centers was down slightly for the week of July 25 during the
DNC,
but remains ahead of 2003 by 6% for the year to date. Also, the Agency
of
Administration announced on Friday that the Rooms and Meals tax revenue
in
July (reflecting June collections) was 10.4% ahead of the same period in
2003.
"The good news in all this is that we continue to see several positive
indicators in Vermont's tourism industry and if we can get some
cooperative
weather for an extended period, I think the results could be impressive
and
could translate into a good close for the summer and a strong start to
the
foliage season," Hyde said.