Hurricane Irene deals another blow to New England tourism, end-of-summer ... - Washington Post

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Brides rescheduled weddings, hotels struggled with cancellations and major tourist attractions like Connecticut's Mystic Seaport closed as Hurricane Irene headed toward New England on Friday, already delivering a blow to the region's tourism industry.

The powerful storm churned north on a path projected to hit the Connecticut shoreline Sunday. The timing of the storm — on one of the last weekends of summer — could hardly have been worse for an industry already coping with high gas prices and a weak economy.

Doreen Pearson, who owns the 21-room Stanton House Inn in affluent Greenwich, said Friday she had five multi-night cancellations and many more indecisive guests. Some callers from low-lying areas wanted guarantees the storm wouldn't affect them if they booked a room, she said.

"We're here now in a total state of flux because people can't decide whether they want to honor their reservation, cancel their reservation or make a reservation," Pearson said. "It's impossible to operate a business this way."

Even before the storm, AAA was predicting a drop in travel over the Labor Day weekend compared with last year because of the economy.

"It will be significant and to some degree it will be a permanent loss to New England," said Fred Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis. "What they were going to do this weekend they won't choose to do three weeks later."

Tourism is a major component of the region's economy. In Connecticut, the industry is responsible for 12 to 14 percent of the work force, Carstensen said.

In Maine, which bills itself as "Vacationland," Irene is expected to cause tens of millions of dollars of lost revenue for the tourism industry as people alter their travel plans or cancel trips altogether, said Charles Colgan of the University of Southern Maine's Muskie Institute of Public Service in Portland.

"If this had happened in July, people would've postponed their vacations and postponed their travel," Colgan said. "But a lot of the losses for tourism won't be recovered simply because of the timing."

At Pearson's B&B, Susan Royal was helping her daughter call wedding guests to let them know the ceremony would be held Saturday instead of Sunday at the bride's father's estate in Ridgefield. And it would be indoors.

"This will be a wedding you won't forget," Royal said, figuring about 50 of the original 85 guests would attend. "Nature has its course. What you do is work with it, not against it."

At Water's Edge Resort in Westbrook, one bride postponed her weekend wedding and another was sticking with her plans. The hotel had received eight cancellations by Friday morning but expected the number to rise and its popular Sunday brunch to take a hit.

"We're going to lose all that," general manager Chris Barstein said. "From a business standpoint, we're not too happy to see this."

Hotels said they were taking a number of safety measures, including securing backup generators, extra bottled water and staff on duty, bringing in outdoor furniture and providing frequent weather updates.