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April 10, 2025

Aroostook County tourism summit to discuss potential challenges ahead

A person works with a pair of horses in a field. File photo / Fred Field Mose, an Amish farmer in Fort Fairfield used his draft horses to disc harrow his garden in a scene reminiscent of farming in the late 1800s.
By Laurie Schreiber

Visitation to Aroostook County has increased every year since 2021, with Canadians making up 17% of all visitation. 

Going into the summer, the county’s tourism stakeholders are looking forward to its usual slate of festivals and celebrations along with additional offerings such as new trails.

But new changes in visitor sentiment pose a challenge this year, with Canadian visitation expected to decrease and domestic tourists are showing a smaller budget for travel.

The upcoming Aroostook County Tourism Summit will discuss what is being done to tackle the challenges and promote the county.

Hosted by Aroostook County Tourism, the summit is scheduled for May 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Best Western Caribou Inn and all are invited. Lunch will be provided and registration is free. 

For more information, click here.

Travel sentiment 

Carolann Ouellette, director of the Maine Office of Tourism, will be the guest speaker and present 2023-24 visitation data. Jeff McCabe, director of the Maine Office of Recreation, will share what the office is doing to promote recreation to all of Maine. 

Aroostook County is home to 11 of Maine’s 24 land ports of entry and Canadians make up 17% of all visitation to Maine’s Aroostook County. Canadians make up 5% of all visitation to Maine. But the current sentiment for travel in the U.S. has dropped significantly. 

A banner hangs from a lamppost
File photo / Fred Field
Alliterative banners adorn light poles in Fort Fairfield.

Aroostook County is a four-season recreation destination.

In the last 12 months, Aroostook County Tourism — a committee of Northern Maine Development Commission — has generated 8.9 million impressions and reached 4.8 million individuals across all platforms and media types. 

Of all visitors to Maine, about 3% go to Aroostook County. The county’s capacity was seen in the data from 2024, when Maine saw a decrease in visitation, but Aroostook County soared 17.5%.

Topics will include how the county achieved that result, marketing and “influencing” to markets ranging from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, how Aroostook towns and business owners can get represented in the marketing — and why they aren't already plugged in.

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