New drama in fall tourism

Outside the Arabian Horse Inn, a bed-and-breakfast in Sudbury, there are acres of green fields, green tendrils of wisteria growing around the porch railings, and, for the moment, green trees.

Let's hope that changes in time to greet the leaf peepers.

An especially dry summer has some local bed-and-breakfast owners speculating that peak colors for this year's foliage season will come early; others thinking they will come late; and yet others thinking they won't come at all. No matter what, most inns are booked solid or have few vacancies throughout the rest of the month, as tourists head our way to see the gold and red glories of fall foliage.

October is the busiest month for tourism in Middlesex County, home to such popular attractions as Walden Pond and the Old North Bridge, according to the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. Last year, hotel occupancy rates were over 75 percent. Paul Sacco, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, estimates that during peak foliage season, more than 50 percent of tourists visit primarily to see the leaves.

Guy LeBlanc, museum services coordinator at Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, says foliage is not the area's only draw for tourists. "The trees being such a huge attraction, that's just part of the picture," he said. "I think a lot of people come here for the whole experience . . . the New England, old-time sort of experience."

At Walden Pond State Reservation in Concord one recent afternoon, a group of tourists from Tennessee were disappointed at the lack of fall color. "I think I saw one red leaf out there," said Robin Rose, of Franklin, Tenn. However, they said, the main reason for their trip was to see sites important to literary history, like the Louisa May Alcott house, and they said they were enjoying that aspect of their trip.

A guestbook at the state reservation had recent entries from visitors from around the country as well as from England, Israel, and Switzerland.

The dry spell is not a concern for some who depend on foliage to attract tourists. "I don't think most people will be conscious of it, so it won't affect their decision" to travel to Massachusetts this fall, said Jean Lynch, owner of the Heath Hen Meadow bed-and-breakfast in Stow.

Year round, tourism injects more than $1.5 billion into the county's economy and is responsible for about 20,000 jobs, according to official estimates. Only Suffolk County, which includes Boston and its many attractions like the USS Constitution and Boston Duck Tours, gets more tourist dollars.

Massachusetts has tried to attract leaf-peeping tourists in recent years by putting a greater emphasis on foliage sightseeing. The state's tourism website, massvacation.com, has an entire section devoted to it, and the Office of Travel and Tourism partners with the Department of Conservation and Recreation to run a fall foliage hotline - 800-227-6277 - that is updated regularly with information about "peak color" areas and prime driving routes.

New Hampshire's tourism website, visitnh.gov, offers sign-ups for "foliage alerts" to be sent to a cellphone, and Maine's Department of Conservation website, maine.gov/doc/foliage/, allows users to chat live with an employee to get travel tips for seeing foliage.

But, for beautiful fall colors or for any color at all, conditions have to be right. Peak season in Eastern Massachusetts is generally in the third week of October, though temperature, precipitation, and other factors determine the brilliance of the colors on display.

Leaves change color in the fall as chlorophyll, which creates the green color of leaves, stops being produced by deciduous trees, which shed their leaves to save energy during winter. The absence of green allows each species' underlying pigments - yellow, orange, red, or purple - to show through.

Charlie Burnham, who travels around the state checking on trees as program supervisor for forest health at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said, "What I have seen where it's started to change, the reds and oranges and yellows are just nice," and not spectacular, because of the dry season.

Next year, he said, "everything could turn right around."