Memorial Day Weekend '25

[John Mercier]

By looking at the license plates, I would speculate that tourism to our area is not in large part Canadian in general. Certain events might pull them in.

In general, the plates are from the other New England States and New York.

When you see a Florida or some other far off place, I would guess those to be snowbirds (can't tell completely, but even some snowbirds consider NH to be primary residence and thus have NH plates).

If they are weekending from the nearby States, something as simple as the weather may be the main driver.

Really too soon to see if anything more than that...

[8gv]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

By looking at the license plates, I would speculate that tourism to our area is not in large part Canadian in general. Certain events might pull them in.

In general, the plates are from the other New England States and New York.

When you see a Florida or some other far off place, I would guess those to be snowbirds (can't tell completely, but even some snowbirds consider NH to be primary residence and thus have NH plates).

If they are weekending from the nearby States, something as simple as the weather may be the main driver.

Really too soon to see if anything more than that...

I agree with this.

As far as Canadian traffic goes, Old Orchard Beach has been a favorite for them for as long as I can remember. What happens there this season will tell us more. With the weather we have had so far they aren't really missing much.

Regarding snow birds, the recent change in NH tax policy may affect the balance of which state should be declared as the primary residence.

Now that there is no NH dividends and interest tax the only advantage I see in calling Florida "home" is the homestead provision of their property tax law.

[John Mercier]

Isn't there also an advantage in auto registration and inspection costs?

They had a NH bill that proposed allowing each municipality to impose up to a 35% of the median home value in each municipality to be exempt from taxation.

It isn't really great policy, as it moves costs onto non-residential properties (apartments and businesses); and further creates the demographic instability that NH is trying to overcome.

[TiltonBB]

There is no vehicle inspection in Florida. Even if you have a New Hampshire registered vehicle in Florida for the winter it does not need an inspection sticker until you return it to NH.

A Florida resident can now register their cars in New Hampshire. The insurance premium is considerably less but the NH plate fees are much higher than Florida.