Maine restaurants, hotels set record with $3.8B in revenue

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s hotels and restaurants set a record for revenue last year, bringing in about $3.8 billion.

The Portland Press Herald reports that tax records show lodging revenue broke $1 billion for the first time in 2017 after rising 7 percent from the year before. Restaurant revenue rose 4 percent to about $2.8 billion.

Overall, hospitality industry revenue grew about 4.7 percent, coming down from a 10-year high of 7.2 percent in 2016.

The total number of tourists visiting the state in 2017 has not been released, but a Portland-based research firm estimates the crucial summer season saw about 1 million more visitors than the year before.

Steve Hewins, the head of trade groups for the hospitality industry, says Maine’s strength as a tourist hotspot is “unbounded.”