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Tourism is New Hampshire’s second-largest industry–if you combine the state’s smart manufacturing and high technology sectors (SMHT). It’s also a clear point of intersection between government and industry, with the state maintaining a number of parks, campgrounds, and historical sites, and nearby businesses in turn catering to visitors’ needs. Given this close relationship, the state provides funding to market New Hampshire to potential tourists. Some of the heaviest marketing efforts are concentrated in Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. Canadian tourists, especially Quebeçois, also make up a sizable number of New Hampshire’s visitors. From the business perspective, “tourism” is a broad term. It encompasses hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail, and arts and entertainment, among other things. So while statewide reports may indicate overall restaurant or retail sales are up or down, the story might be very different in New Hampshire’s main tourism communities. For these places, weather, gas prices, currency exchange rates, and whether they draw visitors for outdoor activities, site-seeing, or shopping could all be factors.Summary provided by StateImpact NH

New Hampshire Expecting Record Number Of Visitors Over July 4th Weekend

File Photo, NHPR

New Hampshire’s tourism industry is gearing up for a strong Independence Day holiday weekend.

The state tourism forecast, produced by the Institute for New Hampshire Studies, calls for more than 900,000 visitors over the three-day weekend, spending over $140 million.

Those numbers would be in line with the state's overall summer forecasts, which project a 3 percent rise in the number of visitors and the amount of money those visitors will spend over last year. Those forecasts are slightly higher than other recent projections.

Mike Somers, president of the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, says a strong Fourth of July weekend would be more good news for the industry. “We had a great winter, spring has been very kind and so far this summer’s been pretty nice,” he said. “Obviously everyone’s very excited; [there’s] a lot of anticipation for a busy holiday weekend.”

Analysts say the increased amount of tourism is due in part to a stronger job market and gas prices that remain lower than those of recent years.

AAA of Northern New England is expecting New England travel to exceed national averages over the three day weekend.

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