Cruisers getting free hotels in Maine
Maine’s just-started 2006 cruise season has something new: business card-size vouchers good for a free night at select lodging places.
The vouchers are part of a new program called “Free-Stay Maine.”
Organizers hope to hand out 100,000 of the vouchers to encourage repeat visitors.
Tourism is the state’s largest industry but visitation has been flat for the past five years, according to news reports. So officials are looking at non-traditional ways to attract new and repeat business.
The cruise passengers are particularly desirable visitors because they typically have high-average incomes. More than two thirds in a study said they wanted to return to the state.
“We’re getting passengers and tourists from non-traditional market areas, so we want them to come back,” said Amy Powers, director of CruiseMaine, the coalition conducting the program.
A typical hotel room in Bar Harbor is worth anywhere from $100 to $300, tourist officials said.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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