Tourism, Maine\u27s largest industry, brings $2.7 billion to the state and employs

Tourism, Maine\u27s largest industry, brings $2.7 billion to the state and employs 67,000 Mainers, but Nat Bowditch of the state Office of Tourism says that leveraging cultural attractions could significantly increase those figures. Maine has few stand-alone cultural attractions other than the Maine Maritime Museum that would independently bring in tourists. The state Department of Economic and Community Development is looking to develop a cultural tourism product. The first such package is already being put together by a consortium in the mid-coast region, and Bowditch is conducting an inventory of the state\u27s cultural resources