Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer – but when it comes to tourism in the First State -- it’s here in June that things really get going.
School is out and people are headed to the beaches and this week 90,000 thousand people are expected to descend on Dover for the 4th edition of the Firefly Music Festival, which will be followed next week by its country cousin – the new Big Barrel festival. The state also has another new country festival – Delaware Junction – slated for August – and is now officially home to a National Park.
As these additions raise Delaware’s profile, the state has launched a new marketing campaign, “Endless Discoveries,” with TV and print ads designed to reach even more potential visitors.
The most recent tourism numbers available from the Delaware Tourism Office show in 2013 Delaware contributed 2.9 billion dollars to the state gross domestic product – up from 2.2 billion in 2012. They also show increases in the number of visitors and taxes and fees generated by those visitors.
Delaware Tourism Office director Linda Parkowski visited The Green this week to discuss tnose numbers, Firefly and the outlook for tourism this summer.
