Introduction: Modern Tourism

According to license plates and roadway signage, the state of Maine, located in the extreme northeastern corner of the United States, is America’s “Vacationland.” During the summer, the various towns along the old coast road, Route 1, are packed with shorts-wearing, camera-toting, sandal-clad visitors racing excitedly from lobster shack to souvenir stand, beach arcade to sand towel. In Portland, the state’s major population center, tourists flock to the Old Port. This district, mirrored in virtually every major New England coastal town as well as many others around the world, features cobbled streets, vintage-looking storefronts, copious bars and restaurants, and souvenir shops heavily stocked with t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and a host of gifts that proudly celebrate the state’s great claim to fame: lobsters and moose.