BY JESSICA HALL

The Portland Press Herald

Warmer-than-usual weather and low gas prices should add up to big crowds this holiday weekend, delighting business owners who cater to tourists.

Graduations at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and Bates College in Lewiston will help fill hotel rooms there, while targeted advertising campaigns will try to sway tourists from New England, the Mid-Atlantic region and Canada to come to Maine on a last-minute whim.

“It’s all about the weather. We want it to get nice and warm in Boston, Philadelphia and D.C. so people think ‘I want to go to Maine,'” said Dick Grotton, president and chief executive of the Maine Restaurant Association.

“The economy is showing signs of improvement, gas is dropping. The weather — that’s the only questionable ingredient for the season,” Grotton said. Tourism spending is crucial to Maine, creating $7.7 billion in economic impact and accounting for 108,000 jobs, according to the Maine Tourism Association.

An early start

The Southern Maine coastline is an early barometer of summer travel, filling up quickly when the weather turns warm. This year, businesses got an early start, local innkeepers said.

“Last weekend, we were double or triple the volume of a winter weekend. We were flat-out, seeing summer numbers,” said Mary Eskew, co-owner of Hoss and Mary’s in Old Orchard Beach. “Because of the mild weather, we did well all winter. But this past weekend, we were lined up out the door.”

In Ogunquit, it was already busy on Patriot’s Day weekend in April, said Karen Arel, president of the local Chamber of Commerce.

“We had hotels doing summer numbers with only winter staff,” Arel said. “The weather’s been on our side.”

That warmer-than-usual weather will continue this weekend. Saturday should have highs around 80 degrees, compared with the average high of 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service forecast.

The weekend’s weather overall will be mixed, with a chance of showers late Sunday and Monday, according to meteorologist Tom Hawley.

Bookings

While Memorial Day kicks off the tourism season, it’s late summer that is truly make-or-break time for hotels and other tourism-dependent businesses. Half of lodging sales for the year usually come during July and August, according to Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Innkeepers Association.

Occupancy rates of about 50 to 60 percent are normal for the average Memorial Day weekend, he said. It’s mostly weekend business until schools let out in mid-to-late June, when midweek occupancy starts to pick up.

“The last really great year we had was 2007. But we’re seeing good, solid advanced reservations for this year. July and August are already looking really good,” Dugal said.

Last year, the peak month of August was hurt by Hurricane Irene, which washed away the last weekend of the month.

Hotel occupancy has been roughly flat over the past two years, with a 55 percent average in 2010 and 56 percent in 2011, Dugal said. Before the recession, occupancy rates exceeded 60 percent annually.

But advanced bookings in Old Orchard Beach are up 10 to 20 percent over last year, said Bud Harmon, president of the Old Orchard Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Still, advanced bookings are less crucial in Maine, where people travel by car and often decide at the last minute to take a trip, experts said.

“People continue to book closer and closer to their travel times,” said Carolann Ouellette, director of the Maine Office of Tourism.

“People tend to be busier and busier and unsure of their schedules until the last minute. There’s also the backdrop of the economy and jobs.”

“It’s different from 10 to 15 years ago. Now everything is planned at the last minute,” Grotton said. “We only have so much capacity in Maine. People arriving at 5 o’clock on a Friday may find themselves sleeping in their car. People need to do some advanced planning.”

Gas prices and travel issues

One drag on tourism appears to be lifting. Gas prices have dropped about 18 cents in the past month to about $3.68 a gallon.

That’s down from $3.86 a gallon a year ago, according to AAA. The price of gas has a major impact on Maine tourism since most visitors arrive by car, rather than plane.

“We’re a $50 tank of gas away from New York and Canada,” said Old Orchard’s Harmon.

Memorial Day weekend traffic volumes through the York toll plaza of the Maine Turnpike will be up 3 percent over last year, according to the Center for Tourism Research and Outreach, an initiative of the University of Maine System. The bulk of the out-of-state cars will be coming from Massachusetts, with a mix of other New England locales within a two-hour radius of Southern Maine, said Charles Colgan, professor of public policy and management at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service.

“Memorial Day weekend is when people traditionally open their camp or summer house. That accounts for the jump in weekend traffic,” Colgan said.

To ease traffic congestion, road crews around the state will be called off at noon on Friday, according to Ted Talbot, spokesman for the Maine Department of Transportation.

New ad campaign

The state is building on its “There’s More to Maine” advertising campaign, targeting spots in New England and Mid-Atlantic areas, as well as Ontario and New Brunswick — areas that are within driving distance of Maine. The campaign has a two-pronged approach — trying to lure newcomers to the state and entice previous visitors to come back.

More than 80 percent of the tourists to Maine are repeat visitors, according to the tourism board, so once the initial visit has been made, the state has a loyal fan.

“We’re trying to build on the ‘There’s More to Maine’ concept — tying into a little more emotion. People are looking for happiness, contentment and enjoyability. We want to connect with them on an emotional level,” Ouellette said.

One new initiative was to advertise on Red Sox Radio Network, a group of radio stations in New England, to entice repeat visitors to return to Maine again. The campaign allowed the tourism office to begin ads earlier in the spring when the baseball season began and to tailor the ads to promote different festivals or activities.

The ad campaign also is focused on niche publications, such as outdoor magazines devoted to paddling, biking and hiking.

The town of Ogunquit does its own advertising campaign, promoting “Ogunquit — Beautiful Place by the Sea” to lure travelers from New York City, from which it has seen an influx of visitors.

“We hear again and again how people are coming back to Maine because they vacationed here as a child. They want to make new memories and recapture old ones,” Arel said.