PORTLAND (AP) – Maine businesses say that they are counting on good weather in July and August to make up for a dismal spring sales season.

“We had a pretty horrible start,” said Kenneth Cormier, owner of Funtown/Splashtown USA in Saco. “Lately, with the sun coming out and the warm weather … we’re right back on track.”

Traffic at the York Toll Plaza – often used as a measuring stick for a successful tourism season – decreased by 5.4 percent this Memorial Day weekend from 2002, according to the Maine Turnpike Authority. In June, traffic at the plaza increased by 2 percent.

“While we’re seeing healthy traffic growth on the turnpike, numbers from the York Toll Plaza are flat – 1 percent up or 1 percent down,” said turnpike authority spokesman Dan Paradee. “Usually (York) is where we see a lot of growth.”

Traffic at the Kittery and Yarmouth highway information stops was up just 1.5 percent this year over last year.

Maine experienced just over 2 inches of rainfall in June. The total was more than an inch less than average but much of it occurred in small spurts that were spread out over many cloudy days.

Cliff Stevens, who owns Moxie Outdoor Adventures in The Forks, said he thinks poor weather in key marketing areas, such as Massachusetts, put a damper on the rafting company’s spring advertising campaign.

“We depend on the Boston market, and they’ve been in the rain,” he said. “A lot of this is marketing … people weren’t looking at the outdoors section (of newspapers) during the pouring rain.”

Reservations for whitewater rafting trips with Moxie are down 30 percent compared to 2002, Stevens said. Kennebec River rafting trips, which traditionally attract anywhere from 60 to 80 travelers a day, have been getting around 20 to 30 rafters daily, he said.

Hotel owners say that tourists didn’t spend more time in Maine than planned, which drove down revenues.

“People just don’t stay the extra day if it’s gloomy,” said Maxine Pouravelis, manager of the Ocean House Hotel and Motel in Old Orchard Beach. “People still came (in June), but they didn’t extend their stays.”

Jeff Rowe, executive director of the Maine Campground Owners Association, said campers’ patience with the weather hinged on the planned length of their stays.

“If they were camping for a weekend, they were apt to leave,” he said. “If it was the beginning of a longer vacation, they’d stay. They figured the sun would eventually come out.”

AP-ES-07-02-03 0901EDT