(Host) Vermont welcome centers are seeing favorable numbers in this year’s fall tourist season.
A Guilford official says the welcome center there had a very busy week leading up to Columbus Day, although rainy weather over the weekend may have had an effect on day travelers. And visits to the Fair Haven welcome center are up over last year, that’s according to Teresa Leamy, who’s worked at the center for 22 years:
(Leamy) “And each year we seem to go up anyways. Even with the problems last year, we were still above what we had the year before. So you know, we do pretty good here and I think it shows. The traffic trends, more people are coming in this state this year than we’ve had in past couple of years.”
(Host) Leamy says the number of visitors on Columbus Day, Monday, was more than double the number last year. And she feels the Fair Haven welcome center gives visitors what they’re looking for:
(Leamy) “We try to make our center a little different than others by acting like it’s our home and we opened it up for them. And they like that feeling. And we have cheese samples, we give out apples, endless candy bowl, coffee. So that helps people feel more at home and relaxed, makes ’em feel welcome to Vermont, too, which we want them to do.”
(Host) Officials expect another busy weekend, as the color continues to move down the state.