Homer, the little town at the “End of The Road,” is becoming an increasingly popular travel destination.
2016 has been a record-breaking year for the Homer tourism industry, said Jan Knutson, the Visitor Center coordinator with the Homer Chamber of Commerce.
“It has been a banner year for Homer and the surrounding area in terms of the number of the visitors. This year we had over 12,600 visitors,” Knutson said.
The visitor center welcomed 219 tourists on July 21 alone, breaking the record for number of daily visitors. In comparison, the average number of visitors per day was 94 in 2015.
Increases in the number of visitors have translated into higher revenues for a number of Homer businesses.
Homer city campgrounds, for instance, reported a revenue increase of $5,000 in comparison to August 2015.
Local bed and breakfasts also have seen increases in occupancy, Knutson said.
“With several of the B&Bs last year, they had 60 percent occupancy, this year it’s 92 percent. They’re all booming,” Knutson said.
Besides the increase in the number of visitors, the Chamber of Commerce has seen a number of other changes, Knutson said.
“The trends that we see that are new this year, one is more and more motorcyclists are coming in,” she said. “The other trend I’m seeing is more and more people, depending on what their budget is, are coming to camp because their budget may be limited, but they really want to come to Homer.”
The Homer Chamber of Commerce is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the year. It also will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through the end of September.
