Summer Tourism in Maine Plummeted Nearly 10% in 2024

If you ask most Mainers, they'll tell you plenty of people visited the state during the summer of 2024. Portland's Old Port was packed seemingly everyday, the streets of places like Bar Harbor, Kennebunkport and Ogunquit were crawling with people and beaches were home to droves of people.

But when you tally up the actual numbers, there's a different story to tell.

According to Maine Public, summer tourism in Maine for 2024 dropped at a rather staggering rate. Data from the Maine Office of Tourism shows that Maine saw a 9% decline in summer tourism this year. 1 out of every 10 people who visited Vacationland last summer decided not to show up this year.

While that could sound alarm bells for seasonal businesses, Hospitality Maine believes it's a simple market correction and that Maine's summer tourism will hold steady with limited growth in years to come.

Pandemic and post-pandemic tourism was a money maker for Maine. People from heavily populated states began to flee to Maine to escape large crowds and enjoy the vast outdoors the Pine Tree State offers visitors.

But with many businesses slowing down remote work and life in general resuming its routine, summer tourism slipped back to numbers last seen in 2019.

One industry in Maine that has been hit hard is the wedding industry. Vendors from across the state saw a steep decline in business for their 2024 season. The 2025 season doesn't look like it will be a rebound. That billion dollar industry could be in peril.

As for those quintessential towns, cute beaches and Acadia National Park, people will still come next summer. Lots and lots of people. Although for many Mainers, a few less people sounds pretty good to them.