With peak foliage season approaching, Hanover businesses are once again reminded that money does, in fact, grow on trees.
The annual flux of leaf peepers from outside New England is perking up hotels, restaurants and retailers all over the state.
Ann Kennard of the New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism said fall foliage "brings in tremendous revenue." Her office anticipates more than 6 million visitors to the state this fall. "It's bigger than Christmas," one retailer said.
Suzanne Pearl, owner of the Juniper Hill Inn in nearby Windsor, Vt., said that autumn brings "an amazing difference. I think all the inns rely on the last part of September to put away money until the snow comes."
Local hotels are consistently full for five weeks during leaf season -- and reservations are often made a year in advance.
A disproportionate percentage of Main Street's dollar is made during the last weeks of September and all of October. Traditionally Trendy, a local clothing store, even caters to tourists by selling special foliage T-shirts.
According to the manager of Rare Essentials in Hanover, the foliage season is "bigger than Christmas." She said approximately 75 percent of Hanover's tourists come from outside of New England.
Among foreign countries, the United Kingdom probably sends the greatest number of leaf peepers to New Hampshire, and the department of tourism is doing much to cultivate the international market, Kennard said.
Businesses relying on the relative consistency of college purchases, like Dartmouth Books and the Hot Dog Stand, are affected by tourists but don't reap the same benefits as the rest of Main Street.
Local travel agencies may be the only businesses not affected by the tide of leaf lookers, since national agencies are responsible for most of the bus and bicycle tours that visit the Upper Valley, an employee at Wheelock Travel said.
According to the New Hampshire weather bureau, leaf color is expected to climax this weekend. Due to a near frost in early September, this fall should be a particularly brilliant one.
If dry conditions prolong this spectacular season, business in Hanover should be equally spectacular.
