After an abnormally wet May and June — with more than a dozen rainy weekends in a row — the sunny and hot weather in July and August has been a boon to many of Maine’s tourism businesses and attractions.

And while cruise ship numbers are down, in part because of Bar Harbor’s 1,000-passenger cap on visitors from cruise ships, and border crossings from Canada continue to fall after President Donald Trump hurled insults and imposed tariffs on Maine’s northern neighbor, visitor numbers are up at Acadia National Park, the Portland International Jetport and on the Maine Turnpike.

As steamy as it’s been lately in Maine, forcing many locals to seek shade and run air conditioners, it’s much hotter in other places that some visitors are all too happy to leave behind when they travel here.

“It’s miserably hot in North Carolina now,” said Mary Catherine Arnold, 40, who visited the Maine coast this week with her husband, Chris. He had been here before to attend a wedding on Peaks Island.

The couple visited Ogunquit and Kennebunkport and took a sailing tour of Saco Bay. Then they headed up to Portland’s Old Port, where they stayed at the Press Hotel, took a ferry to Peaks for a seaside stroll, dabbled in karaoke at the East Ender and dined at Eventide Oyster Co. and Via Vecchia.

“It’s been amazing,” Arnold said. “I’d like to return in a few years and bring our son, who’s a toddler now and staying with my parents. Maybe go to Acadia.”

ACADIA SEES BUSY JULY

Acadia National Park reported its busiest month in 35 years in July, with 797,000 visitors, up nearly 1% from 791,029 visitors in July 2024, according to the National Park Service.

The last time Acadia saw higher figures was in summer 1989, when over 999,000 people visited in July, and 1,045,060 visited in August — the park’s all-time monthly record.

Everal Eaton, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce, attributed the uptick to nicer weather that encourages last-minute day-trippers and weekend visitors from throughout New England and beyond.

But while some Down East businesses, especially lodging operators, may reap the benefits of Acadia’s increase, others are missing the passengers that came in the early cruise ship season before Bar Harbor imposed its cap.

“We’re having a relatively consistent season overall, but the businesses that depend on cruise ship traffic are down,” Eaton said. “Overall, we’re on par or up a bit, but it could become more of an issue in the fall.”

CRUISE SHIP NUMBERS DOWN

CruiseMaine, a state agency that promotes the industry in 10 coastal communities, anticipates nearly 325,000 passenger visits this season, concentrated in September and October. That’s down nearly 14% from 378,166 passenger visits in 2024.

Bar Harbor, previously the front-runner for cruise ship activity, is scheduled to receive about 50 ships this year. That’s down from 97 ships in 2024, itself a 50% reduction from ship calls in 2019 and 2022, said Sarah Flink, CruiseMaine’s executive director.

“The few larger, foreign-flagged vessels we’ve seen this season have so far visited only Portland and Eastport,” Flink said in an emailed statement. “While 14 foreign flagged vessels under 1,000 passengers each have been canceled (at Bar Harbor) … Eastport and Portland have picked up some of those 14 cancellations.”

Portland, meanwhile, is expecting 120 cruise ships this season, down from 139 ships in 2024, and 208,182 passenger visits, down from 202,300 passengers in 2024.

JETPORT PASSENGERS UP

The Arnolds, from North Carolina, are among a growing number of visitors to Maine who are choosing direct flights to and from the Portland International Jetport, said Zachary Sundquist, assistant airport director.

July passenger numbers were up nearly 4%, from 303,632 in 2024 to 315,357 last month, according to the jetport’s website.

“It’s a strong summer for passenger traffic with an expectation of 9% overall continued growth in passenger numbers year over year,” Sundquist said.

In Portland’s Old Port, restaurant and retail traffic appeared to be strong this week, especially at the Maine Souvenir Shop on Exchange Street.

Owner Kevin Ouellette is seeing the impact of the jetport’s direct flights among the shop’s clientele. The store doubled in size this year, offering items made or designed by 108 Maine artists and creators.

“We see a big connection between our sales and direct flights offered to the jetport,” Ouellette said. “If there’s a direct flight to Portland, we see more people from that area.”

TURNPIKE TRAFFIC INCREASES

On the Maine Turnpike, toll transactions tallied from May through Aug. 13 are up more than 3% year over year, from 31 million in 2024 to 32 million so far this summer. The first two weeks of August increased 5%, from 4.2 million transactions in 2024 to 4.4 million this year, according to the Maine Turnpike Authority.

But at the same time, border crossings from Canada into Maine fell again in July — down 28% — from 383,000 in 2024 to 275,000 last month, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Total crossings into Maine are down about 25% so far this year, from nearly 1.8 million in the first seven months of 2024 to just over 1.3 million in the same period this year.

The impact of fewer Canadian tourists and other challenges facing the tourism industry will be impossible to gauge until the state analyzes lodging taxes and other measures, said Tony Cameron, CEO of the Maine Tourism Association.

Cameron acknowledged that Bar Harbor will likely “take a bit of a hit” and the reduction in border crossings will have an impact.

“We may not break any records, but the weather in July and August has been absolutely fantastic, especially after endless weekends with rain in May and June,” he said. “Hopefully we get a great fall as well and people keep coming.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 19, 2025 to correct cruise ship numbers for Portland.