From the Bar Harbor Chamber:

Mike H. was asking me how's business this season? We're busy, with our 2000th guest just signing in yesterday. Here a some stats for your viewing pleasure:

And where were most of these travlers headed? Acadia National Park.

Acadia National Park traffic is up 19.4 % this year. So if you wanted a great location to attact these travelers, what with the construction in Ellsworth, I can recommend a good spot, the Maine Coast Welcome Center!

Call us to partner 207-930-3633

The Maine Coast Welcome Center announces "Concierge Maps".

The #1 benefit we provide to our guests from across the globe here at the Maine Coast Welcome Center is recommendations to places to stay, places to eat, and things to do here in Maine. To make it easy for our guests to find our business partners, we've developed Concierge Maps with the actual locations of our business partners shown on the map.

For most of our guests, the Maine experience is a multple region trip, so we have maps for the regions we represent along the Maine coast from Boothbay to Eastport. We just click on the region, view the map, and hand it to our guests.

To continue supporting our guests after they leave the Maine Coast Welcome Center, we've put our maps online, so they may view their next region from wherever they may be.

We encourage our business partners to use our maps for their guests and to learn of our business partners outside their home region so they may share referalls as well. Our concept is that every one of our business partners is a Maine Coast Welcome Center location as well !

Check out our maps, HERE.

We even have a portable version for those travelers with internet devices in their backpacks. Our guests may continue their plans from on top of Cadillac Mountain!

Build Community!

The casual encounters you enjoy at neighborhood-scale businesses and the public spaces around them build relationships and community cohesiveness. They’re the ultimate social networking sites!

Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns more than 3 times as much money to our local economy than one spent at a chain -- a benefit we all can bank on.

Enhance Choices!

A wide variety of independent businesses, each serving their customers’ tastes, creates greater overall choice for all of us.

“Buy local” themes are consistent across the country. This translates into tourists looking for local area businesses as they travel. You have the Maine Coast Welcome Center located 5 minutes from your business.

Before the 4th of July, guests from all 50 states visited. Only 8% were headed to Belfast !

Here’s what Buy Local means to us. We have Belfast & Searsport sections in the Welcome  Center. These local businesses and organizations are proudly displayed for our guests to appreciate. Business participation allows us to support organizations & events. “We talk to guests from around the world and tell them how we enjoy our Belfast, Maine community”.

Admiral's Ocean Inn, Audubon Wildlife,  Belfast Co-op Store, Deli & Catering, Belfast Farmer's Market, Belfast Garden Club, Belfast Historical Society, Belfast Museum in the Streets, Belfast Parks, Belfast Pied-a-terre, Belfast Walking Tour, Bennett's Gems & Jewelry, Blue Jacket Ship Crafters, Colonial Gables, Carriage House Inn, Charlie Hunter; Realtor, Come Boating, Comfort Inn, Fiber College, Funky Junk Art, Gull Motel, Lobsterboat Race Sponsor, Louise Lanctot; Realtor, Maine Celtic Celebration, Maine Fairs, Maine Lighthouses, Mainely Pottery, Ming's Chinese Restaurant, Moorings Campground, Moose Point State Park, National Resources Council of Maine, Northport Music Theater, Old Stuff, Out of the Woods, Papa J’s, Penobscot Bay Outfitters, Penobscot Marine Museum, Purple Baboon, Scoops Ice Cream, Sears Island, Searsport Museum in the Streets, Searsport Shores Ocean Campground, Sojourner Float Systems, Sunscapes, Waldo Boy Scouts, Weathervane Seafood Restaurants, Young’s Lobster.

Your business could benefit by being part of the attraction. You are invited to join this local group of businesses advertising to tourists at your local Maine Coast Welcome Center.

Call Patti @ 415-5647 or Jim @ 415-5646 to sign up!