Chilly temperatures and a wet spring made for a slow start to the summer and tourist season this year. However, Rhinelander Chamber Director Dana DeMet says area lodgers report that July and August were the busiest months on record for the Northwoods.
“It’s been a very mild summer. It hasn’t been too hot, it hasn’t been too cold, as well as decreased gas prices means that people have a little bit more spending money to be able to get out and go around and enjoy some of the things here in the Northwoods.”
DeMet says with the school year starting soon, families are staying close to home, but Minocqua Chamber Director Krystal Westfall says she expects the busy summer trend to continue into the coming months.
“There hasn’t been any slowdown in how the economy is rebounding. We are definitely seeing a huge increase of traffic flow; it just increases every season. We are coming into of course our fall peaking season for leaves, so I am expecting we are going to have a really, really great fall.”
Westfall says tourism picks up by mid-September or early October, and then dies down until the winter season when energy prices drop.
