New Hampshire’s department of travel and tourism is predicting 670,000 visitors and over $98 million spent by the end of this Columbus day weekend. The Columbus holiday is NH’s third strongest tourism weekend.
Kris Nielson is with the department of Travel and Tourism. She says peak foliage season is a little later than usual, this year. Still, she says, the Great North Woods are at peak,; and the White Mountains are close.
"The color’s been a little bit slower to come in the lakes region and the Seacoast," she said, "but signs are popping up all over."
All told, Nielson’s department is predicting a 6% increase in direct spending by tourists this season, with nearly 10 million visitors spending $1.4 billion dollars.