NORWICH, Conn. (AP) – Tourists destinations, particularly those in southeastern Connecticut, remain optimistic that this summer will be successful despite high gasoline prices and a cold, wet start to the travel season.

“If you look at things such as personal income, growth, a continuing recovering economy, and other areas such as housing where players are still in the game, it does bode well for a good tourism season,” said Peter Gioia, economist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. “That wasn’t the case a few years ago in the recession of 2001.”

With two casinos, an aquarium and the Mystic Seaport museum, tourism in eastern Connecticut brings $4 billion annually and local agencies have begun in earnest to catch summer visitors.

And many of them aren’t driving far.

Steven Azzaro and his wife recently took a day trip to Mohegan Sun from their home in Killingly just before the Memorial Day weekend.

“With gas prices more and more a factor, it’s definitely keeping us closer to home,” Azzaro said. “There’s lots of things around here to do without much expense. There’s lots of cultural activities in Connecticut that are rewarding to attend.”

Travel is still down compared to pre-Sept. 11 business, analysts said. But each year since 2001, Connecticut has had small increases in tourism. There was a 7.4 percent increase this April over the same period a year ago, according to Mystic Coast & Country, a travel association that promotes the area.

Year-to-date activity increased 1.6 percent.

Mystic Coast & Country has begun its “Great Escapes” advertisements, targeting newspapers in the New York metropolitan area.

“That’s where we are spending our marketing dollars and public relations, to show Connecticut is a close destination to New York to come play,” Christopher Jennings, president of the association, said. “We’ve got about 9,000 rooms and we’re not full, so we’re open and we’re welcoming. That’s the perception we’re trying to get across: there’s rooms, there’s great bargains.”

Ed Dombroskas, tourism division director with the state tourism agency, said research has shown that gas prices must reach $3 a gallon to affect business, and gas prices have been decreasing lately.

“The outlook for the season as we see it is quite good,” Dombroskas said. “We always know the higher gas prices rise, the more visitation we get. We are also seeing a trend of the short trip – we know Connecticut is a destination for the short trip.”

The Mohegan Sun casino and Foxwoods Resort Casino have been region’s largest draws. The Mystic Coast and Country report in April indicated the casinos experienced a 9.3 percent increase in business, the largest increase for its category.

Last summer, the two casinos reported record-breaking slot machine business, ringing in just over $77 million each.

“We are cautiously optimistic that this will be a very good summer here,” Mohegan Sun spokesman Mitchell Etess said. “We’re hopeful that some of the situations – the gas price situation and the current trend of taking shorter trips – will continue and benefit our business.”

Foxwoods saw a 10 percent increase in business last month and are counting on a fruitful summer with the opening of the Lake of Isles, its new $80 million golf result directly across from the casino.

“If we get solid rain that’s bad, but if we get rain and sun and rain and sun, people do come,” Foxwoods CEO Bill Sherlock said. “So if the weather holds up, I think that will be advantageous for us.”