Snowmobile Season in Northern Maine Means a Serious Economy Boost

Aroostook County received its first measurable snowfall Tuesday and Wednesday and that has those in the tourism industry thinking snowmobile season. 

Gary Marquis, superintendent of Parks and Recreation in Caribou and a member of Aroostook County Tourism, says The Trail Report has been added to the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department website and Facebook page, to the Visit Aroostook website and  Aroostook County Tourism Facebook page, to the Northern Maine Snowmobiling page, and will be linked by numerous snowmobile club pages and sites.

ACT, an affiliate organization of Northern Maine Development Commission, staffed two snowmobile related events in October, the Snowmobile Grass Drags in New Hampshire and the Maine Snowmobile Show in Augusta.

NMDC Planning and Development Division Director Alain Ouellette says it's important to interest snowmobilers before the snow falls and early in the season when northern Maine often has snow and other parts of Maine do not.

Ouellette says snowmobiling in Maine brings in nearly $350 million a year in direct and related business and is responsible for 23,000 jobs statewide.

Aroostook County boasts more than 2,200 miles of trails and the trail system in northern Maine is often named a Top Ten destination in North America by winter sports magazines and organizations..

The Maine Office of Tourism says visitors contributed $139 million to Aroostook County in 2015. The tourism industry in Aroostook represents 2,469 jobs and $45,965,607 in total earnings and nearly $13 million in total taxes.

Funding for ACT is provided in part through a grant from the Maine Office of Tourism.