Breaking Down Salem's Tourism Boom, Big Benefits, Possible Pitfalls

SALEM, MA — The numbers confirm a story that anyone who spent time on the streets of downtown Salem — especially in the weeks before Halloween — could easily tell in 2022.

Visitation to the Witch City was at an all-time high with Destination Salem Executive Director Kate Fox telling the Salem City Council that the city drew an estimated 2.2 million visitors throughout the year — with 990,000 coming in October alone.

Fox told the Council visitation for the year was up 3.1 percent from 2021, 82.9 percent over the COVID-restriction-filled 2020 and 1.5 percent over the previous record year of 2019.

That is all music to the ears of those with sold-out hotels, attractions and restaurants throughout the fall, but is not entirely a cause for celebration from residents who rue the Halloween season that closes roads, hampers everyday activities and seems to grow longer and longer each year.

Fox said the nearly one million visitors in 2022 was up nearly 50 percent from the estimated 671,000 just five years earlier.

"There are meetings happening now looking at Haunted Happenings and how parking and traffic concerns can be mitigated," she said during a public hearing on the city's office of tourism and public affairs on Wednesday. "There are a lot of good ideas being floating around so I'm not able to say there is a plan in place. But everyone is aware we have too many cars and too many people for the size and scope of the town."

While Fox said her efforts are mostly geared around trying to get people to come to the Witch City the other 11 months of the year, the October issues are ones Salem must work to manage and learn to live with because the crowds are not going anywhere anytime soon.

"I spend far more marking the rest of the year than I do marketing October," she said. "October, however, is going to continue to grow and we need to work on how we handle the visitation that is coming because of that month.

"Salem is the only place in the world where you can experience Haunted Happenings. You can experience maritime history, and colonial history, and murals, and a lot of the other assets we have here, you can experience those in other destinations. But we are the only place that has the 1692 witch trials, the architecture and Haunted Happenings. That is only going to continue to grow."

Part of that intervention appeared to be successful as October went on in 2022 as Fox and other Salem officials took to the airways to implore visitors not to try to drive into the city — stressing public transportation —because of a lack of parking and urged them to plan their trips with tickets and reservations ahead of time rather than expect to walk into a restaurant and get a table at 6 p.m. on a Friday.

Fox, whose efforts were overwhelmingly praised by councilors during the public hearing, said one of her goals is to develop more sustainable tourism that encompasses the many events and festivals Salem hosts throughout the year, while she said the city must continue to work on plans to handle the crowds that will inevitably come each October.

"We balance the municipal needs with the expectations of the business community and qualify of life of the people who live here," she said of her office. "It's a tricky balance at times. But we work really hard to do it and hopefully come out on top."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)