Tourism officials predict strong Memorial Day weekend

State tourism officials have very high hopes for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

In fact, the state Division of Travel and Tourism predicts that the weekend promises to be among the five best ever in terms of the number of visitor trips and visitor spending, giving the traditional kickoff to the summer tourism a healthy start.

Agency officials said they expect about 540,000 out-of-state visitors during the weekend, 2 percent more than last year. Visitors are projected to spend about $76 million, up by 4 percent over a year ago.

According to the agency, Memorial Day weekend is the fourth busiest travel weekend in New Hampshire.

Most of the visitors for Memorial Day weekend are expected to come from New England and New York state, and the number of Canadian visitors will be higher than last year as well, due to the strength of the Canadian dollar.

Higher gasoline prices are not anticipated to have a significant impact on the number of trips from nearby states, officials said. – JEFF FEINGOLD