Fall foliage tourism, also known as “leaf peeping,” attracts tourists to the Upper Valley and the state of New Hampshire each fall. After last year’s decline in year-over-year turnout — largely caused by a decline in Canadian tourists — there is a projected “resurgence” in visitors this fall, according to New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development director Michelle Cruz.
This season, 3.9 million people are expected to visit the state, marking a 3% increase from last year, Cruz said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
“What we’re looking at is also forecasting a 5% increase in visitor spending,” Cruz said. “That brings the total spending for the fall to $2 billion.”
Many of these visitors spend their money at small businesses and restaurants in Hanover. The Works Cafe general manager Liz Sisk said she notices an increase in the number of visitors on guided bus tours during the fall, many of whom order “individual lunches for a lot of people.” She added that she expects the uptick to begin in two weeks.
This year, Homecoming weekend will coincide with peak color changes in the Upper Valley. That convergence is expected to be a “strong driver” of customers and revenue for Hanover businesses in early October, according to Upper Valley Business Alliance marketing and administration manager Gordon Boddington.
“There are a lot of people who come here for foliage,” Boddington said. “But also we have this secondary demand driver where that foliage can intersect with a big Dartmouth event.”
Hanover Inn sales and marketing director Bob Yienger said the hotel will be “running maximum occupancy” over the next few weeks.
At the Six South St. Hotel, every weekend in October is “booked mostly solid,” according to front desk employee Maxwell Foster.
Hartford Chamber of Commerce executive director Havah Armstrong Walther said although the Upper Valley has a “robust and healthy hospitality business market,” influxes of visitors require “all hands on deck.”
“There are just these times where there’s a mass amount of people who come to the Upper Valley,” she said. “We have a pattern of regular tourism booms and then bust cycles.”
Walther added that the hospitality industry is “highly reliant on international workers.”
“We are down several millions of international workers in the United States right now, particularly in New England,” Walther said.
New Hampshire’s growth is “in jeopardy due to Trump administration policies focused on heightened enforcement as well as shifting visa and asylum rules that bring new pressures and widespread confusion for immigrant families, businesses and service providers,” according to a January article in Business N.H. Magazine.
There is also a continued decrease in visitors from Canada. The Quechee Gorge Visitor Center, located in Hartford, Vt., has seen a decrease in Canadian visitorship in the past two years, according to Walther.
“One-hundred percent, it has to do with the political climate,” Walther said. “The few Canadian visitors we get have talked about receiving criticism from their friends and family for visiting.”
Since his return to office in 2025, President Donald Trump has imposed a series of tariffs on Canada and made continuous remarks about Canada becoming the “51st state.”
Though some of the business lost from international tourism has been replaced by American families on “cross-country trips” seeking affordable vacations, “Canadians have a fondness for Vermont,” Walther said.
“It’s been more than one Canadian who’s come through the visitor center who says that Vermont is invited to join Canada any time,” Walther said.
Cruz has also noticed that visitors from Canada are returning to New Hampshire in larger numbers than last year.
“While the numbers for Canadian visitors is not where it was a couple of years ago, we are seeing more Canadian visitors coming to the state of New Hampshire,” she said.
