What: Governor’s Conference on Tourism

Annual chance to workshop, network, hear the latest tourism data and trends

Theme: Maine Tourism in the Modern World

When: Tuesday, Feb. 13

Where: Samoset Resort, Rockport

Register: Online until 8 a.m. Monday, at the door until conference start ($150 for full day, luncheon)

For more information: mainetourismconference.com

Travelers are increasingly after comfort and luxury, and are willing to pay for it.
Consultant Peter Yesawich
Maine tourism
Fewer people take to the woods

Bill Pierce is in Harrisburg, Pa., right now at the country’s largest outdoor sports show, swearing in junior rangers and talking up the state.

Come here to fish! Come here to hunt!

Come here.

Public relations rep for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, next week he’ll junior rangerize more kids (“I swear to listen to my parents … to obey fish and wildlife laws …”) and market Maine at a Worcester, Mass. expo.

A tourism study last year found that visits here were up overall, but fewer out-of-staters are buying hunting and fishing licenses, fewer people are spending nights at state parks and fewer are buying park day passes than just a couple of years ago.

In many ways, fewer people are using the outdoors.

Traditions aren’t being passed on, and youngsters aren’t being hooked, like they used to be. More vacationers are pressed for time. Another factor: Travelers are increasingly after comfort and luxury, and are willing to pay for it, said consultant Peter Yesawich, keynote speaker at Tuesday’s annual state conference on tourism.

As Pierce saw last year at the first international conference on ecotourism in Bar Harbor, people want places with earth-friendly toilet paper – and a wine list.

‘They don’t want to swat flies’

Since 1993, the number of nonresidents buying fishing licenses has dropped 30 percent.

Overnight camping at state parks has dipped from a high of 252,830 in 2002 to 229,112 last year. Day-use passes were down by 402,000 in 2006 from a high in 2001, when it was 2.3 million.

Figures from a few years ago may have represented people vacationing closer to home after the terrorist attacks, said Willard Harris, director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands.

“We’re trying to get it back up, any way we can,” he said.

Two new tactics this year: a Web-based reservation system to find and book state park campsites in real time – it took as long as a day before – and electricity and water hookups in Camden Hills and Sebago.

“Again, it’s, ‘What do people want?'” Harris said.

The state saw 2,105 reservations in the first 24 hours when it went live Feb. 1.

For all of last February, there were 2,700.

Nationally, more people are taking outdoor-related vacations, Yesawich said. Almost half of leisure travel had an outdoor component last year. Most went away for four nights or less, making easy access a factor.

Rick Hill, president of the Maine Professional Guides Association, in the outdoor business for 30 years, has seen interest in roughing it drop off.

“Baby boomers are getting into their 50s, 60s now. They no longer want to go out and swat flies and cut wood over a campfire,” he said. The younger generation “are on their Blackberries, in front of their computers, they’re after that instant gratification.”

Snowmobilers are a big part of his business this time of year at Mount Chase Lodge, near Baxter State Park. Snowmobile and boat registrations have seen modest increases since 1993. ATV registrations are up three-fold.

‘A busy life’

Hill questioned state promotional efforts, saying activities such as hiking and cross-country skiing get more play than traditional outdoor sports.

A University of Maine study in 1998 pegged the economic impact of hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching in Maine at $1.1 billion. Inland Fisheries uses a sliver of its $28 million budget for marketing.

The tourism industry is estimated to bring in $13 billion-plus a year; the Office of Tourism budget: $7.5 million.

Pierce would agree the message has to get out more. He’ll go to 10 out-of-state trade shows this year. There also has to be more work, he said, in highlighting regions such as Bethel, where a person could hike or ski, take to the woods with a guide and sleep in a high-end hotel.

“It’s a busy life,” he said. “We’ve made this a very busy society.”

For some, that means less time to go out and cast a line.