LEWISTON, Maine-
Millinocket is an up-and-coming travel destination for 2007, according to the Web site TripAdvisor.com.
On the popular travel Web site’s Top 10 list, the shrinking mill town ranked No. 6, beating out Vail, Colo. Also in the list were Breckenridge, Colo.; Eureka, Calif.; Macon, Ga.; Anna Maria, Fla.; and Kailua, Hawaii.
Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue learned of the ranking last week at a council meeting. “Everybody smiled and had a chuckle,” he said on Tuesday. “We were certainly pretty surprised.”
The travel forecast, a first for the company, is based on on proprietary algorithm that measures searches and comments posted on the site, TripAdvisor spokesman Brooke Ferencsik said.
Ferencsik said he’s never been to Millinocket but knows Baxter State Park is a draw. “It’s really kind of a paradise for those who love the outdoors,” he said.
Phil Savignano, senior tourism officer at the Maine Office of Tourism, said the ranking validates the state’s new effort to pilot a nature-based tourism program.
The woodlands surrounding Millinocket are rural and remote, Savignano said.
It’s not a Hollywood-version of the outdoors, he added. “I think we still have a pretty good lock on authentic.”
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Information from: Sun-Journal,
