A day of solemnity... a weekend of spending

The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau predicted a 2 percent increase in out-of-town visitors and hotel bookings in the Boston area, but the number was closer to 6 percent, with 1.3 million more people visiting the Boston area than last year.

Patrick Moscaritolo, chief executive officer of the bureau, said the increase, calculated using preliminary hotel booking information and data from AAA, was probably because of greater numbers of people driving from New York to Greater Boston to watch sporting events. The weekend brought many New York Mets fans to Boston to see the three-game series at Fenway Park. Throngs also visited Foxborough to watch New York colleges and universities compete in the NCAA lacrosse championships at Gillette Stadium.

"I love New Yorkers, especially when they leave so much money behind," Moscaritolo said yesterday.

Travelers also took advantage of Memorial Day gas prices that averaged about $2.26 a gallon in Massachusetts, according to AAA - $1.49 lower per gallon than they were a year ago. AAA has estimated that the low cost of gas would encourage more than 27 million Americans to take a vacation by car this year, an increase over last year's 23.6 million. No official numbers were available for Memorial Day traffic in Boston or New England yesterday, but the region is expected to show the greatest increase in auto travel.

"We're not seeing as dramatic an increase [in car travel] anywhere as we are in New England," said Mary McGuire, a spokeswoman for AAA Southern New England, which includes Massachusetts.

"We have so many really desirable destinations within 50 miles," she said. "You can drive to the Cape, New Hampshire, the Maine Coast, New York City, Newport, the Berkshires. It's not like we're planted in the middle of Montana."

While the surge in driving may be bad news for the environment, it's good news for many of the region's tourist attractions, restaurants, and hotels that have suffered in the recession. Across New England this spring, vacation cottage rental agents said midmarket units - those that rent for $1,200 to $2,000 a week - have been far slower to book for upcoming months than in past years. Massachusetts state parks have reported a 20 percent increase in reservations across their rustic campgrounds.

On the Cape yesterday, many small-business owners said their season was off to a humming start, with some inns and restaurants reporting higher sales than usual.

"We're up on last year," said Danny Davis, the front desk manager at the Irish Village Restaurant and Pub in West Yarmouth, which also runs a 135-room hotel. "It's been a strong weekend for us. A lot of our clients do discuss the bad state of the economy, but in terms of occupancy here, it's been more than 90 percent."

The cost of a room includes meals and entertainment.

"We're about 10 rooms higher occupancy than last year," Davis said yesterday afternoon.

Karen Driscoll, the dining room manager at the Black Cat Restaurant in Hyannis, said sales were excellent over the long weekend. The restaurant is located next to Hy-Line Cruises, which operates shuttle boats from Hyannis Harbor to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The restaurant, which has been in operation for more than 15 years, gets a boost every Memorial Day weekend from the crowds attending the Figawi sailboat race, and from foreigners on vacation.

"We were jam-packed on Friday night," Driscoll said. "This weekend was right up there with previous years, if not more."

For years, exchange rates for converting Euros into dollars have been near record highs, making Boston a bargain for Europeans. Foreign currency continued to be strong until last fall, when the recession forced a global economic crisis.

David Silva, part owner of the Red Inn on Provincetown Harbor and the Anchor Beach House, said foreigners, who account for about 15 percent of his business, have booked reservations and indicated that they will be visiting again this year.

Silva also said his guest rooms this Memorial Day were sold out all weekend, and that he had no available reservations in the Red Inn's dining room. One big difference, he said, was that he's seeing new faces instead of many long-time seasonal regulars.

Provincetown exists in a bubble, he said, noting that its natural beauty and proximity to several large cities make it a steady draw.

"In a down economy, we've actually grown our client base because the people that couldn't get in before can now," he said.

In Hampton Beach, N.H., crowds flocked to the beach and commercial strip to take advantage of the sun and the start of summer.

Ray McIntyre, owner of two T-shirt shops, Airbrush Underground and Beach Bums, said teenagers were out in full force over the weekend, flocking to the beach and the boardwalk.

However, whether the early crowds mean a good season is something he is not yet willing to predict.

"There have been crowds here, I will say that," he said. "But it's a little too early to tell."

Brian Ballou of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.