Thanks to the hot, dry end of summer, Connecticut’s foliage season will start earlier this year, leaving open the possibility of a longer, more vibrant autumn tourism season that could have merchants singing a happy tune.
With more leaf-peepers in Connecticut, the major beneficiaries will be restaurants, hotels — particularly bed & breakfasts — antique shops and other small, quaint businesses. But nearly all operations, including fall festivals, will gain from more tourists in the state, said Randy Fiveash, director of tourism for Connecticut’s Commission on Culture & Tourism.
The early start gives Connecticut an advantage over popular foliage destinations in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, which typically start and finish their color change earlier in the season.
This early and possibly lengthy advantage — coupled with increased publicity for the state’s fall color and tourists desire to stay closer to home — could lead to one of the best foliage seasons in the state history, although that’s impossible to determine since Connecticut doesn’t track its tourism numbers.
“Our bookings are better than last year, and last year was the best year we’ve had in our eight years here,” said Ira Goldspiel, proprietor of The Inn at Kent Falls. “We are really seeing people from all over.”
For its autumn issue, Yankee Magazine named Kent as the No. 1 place in New England for leaf-peeping, besting out traditional locations in northern New England. The magazine also put East Haddam, The Cornwalls and Litchfield in the top 25. The ranking was reported nationally by the Associated Press and CBS News and now Goldspiel has bookings for people from California, Texas and Georgia.
During previous Octobers, the six-bedroom Inn at Kent Falls has 100 percent occupancy on the weekends and 70 percent on the weekdays, Goldspiel said. Based on advanced bookings, this October will have 100 percent on weekend and 90-100 percent on the weekdays.
Despite the national attention, this fall looks like a top tourism season in Connecticut because people are traveling closer to home in the poor economy, said Ginny Kozlowski, executive director for the Connecticut Lodging Association. Connecticut draws on the New York City market, which buoys the fall foliage travel industry.
No state agency, university or private company tracks the number of visitors to the state or their spending, so it’s impossible to know the true economic impact the fall foliage season has on Connecticut’s business. Fiveash said with the state’s budget cuts, the Commission on Culture & Tourism scaled back its research.
In New Hampshire, the state is predicting a 3 percent increase in foliage visitors in 2010 for a total of 7.7 million people spending $1.1 billion. In Maine, fall visitors account for 25 percent of the state’s tourism spending for the year; and last year the state had 8.6 million visitors in September and October spending $1.5 billion.
With an early and longer season of color, Connecticut could see similar numbers, but the business is dependent on the leaves staying on the trees. Changing weather patterns make it hard to predict how long the season will last.
Leaves usually start turning around late September and peak around Columbus Day in mid-October, but this year the color started in early September, which will lead to a peak season starting closer to Oct. 1 if the weather remains consistent, said Chris Martin, director of forestry for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.
As days shorten and weather cools, trees begin to shut down for the year, removing the green chlorophyll from its leaves to reveal the colors caused by individual tree species carotenoids. Maples leaves turn orange, hickory leaves turn yellow, sycamore trees turn red.
“It is the neat thing about nature. Different tree species have vastly different chemical makeups,” Martin said.
Wet weather can slow the color-changing process, so a dry summer such as this year can lead to an early start to the season.
Fall is Connecticut’s second biggest season for tourism behind summer. Family travel in June, July and August gives way to adult couples in the autumn. The fall visitor tends to spend more but be in a smaller group, Fiveash said.
Autumn tourism is not limited to foliage, as Connecticut colleges and universities host parents and alumni weekends; high school students visit campuses; and fairs and festivals attract large crowds.
With lower gas prices and a 3.2 percent decrease in hotel room rates from 2009, people are traveling more, Kozlowski said. Room occupancy is up 8.4 percent from last year, and those numbers should hold into the fall.
If the days stay sunny and Connecticut gets a burst of autumn warm weather – as is predicted this year – then the peak color season could go well in November, Martin said. But all it takes is one bad windy storm to end fall foliage season abruptly.
“I hope it doesn’t rain because rain can kill it,” Goldspiel said. “It’s all predicated on the weather.”
