Tourism Council Update – August 2025
Summer Heats Up for Visitors to Greater Cape Ann
The summer season has been warming up – in more ways than one – and that’s good news for the tourism community across Greater Cape Ann. An update on the summer so far – and what’s in store for the rest of the season – was the focus of the July 18 meeting of the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Tourism Council.
The summer season has been a success so far, and the weather has played a significant role. Visitors have flocked to the region for beach days, shopped and dined in town, had fun on the water in our museums and galleries, and much more. As we reported last month, the weather was a major challenge in the spring, which adversely impacted accommodations, but proved beneficial for restaurants, museums, and indoor attractions. The weather improved dramatically in mid-June, which was a plus for inns, B&Bs, hotels, and short-term rentals.
Events in June and July – including the Battle of Bunker Hill reenactment, the St. Peter’s Fiesta, Independence Day celebrations, the first Gloucester Block Party organized by the Chamber, the launch of Thursday Culture Splash events and Ipswich Downtown Tuesdays, to name just a few – also helped to turn up the heat. And the event season has just begun with a full schedule of August events coming up. Check the events pages on the Chamber’s www.capeannvacations.com website for details.
In addition to community events, we heard how businesses supporting tourism have responded – CATA has more buses on the road; Cape Ann Museum, Hammond Castle, Beauport Hotel and others have more special activities planned; Tourism Council members report that more Uber and Lyft drivers are available, addressing an issue raised in our meetings in the off-season; and we’ve seen more media coverage of tourism on Greater Cape Ann.
In our July meeting, the Tourism Council also set its sights on the future. We continued our discussion around ways the tourism community can play a more active role in local government, identifying issues and engaging with officials. Stay tuned for more from the Council on this initiative.
We also talked about the annual “season in review” organized by Discover Gloucester in collaboration with the Chamber, discussing the possibility of moving this meeting to early 2026 and reviewing all four seasons – a reflection of the extension of tourism beyond the summer months.
There will be more updates like this at our next meeting on August 15. Anyone involved in or interested in Cape Ann’s visitor-based economy is invited to join us for this and upcoming monthly meetings. We gather on the third Friday of each month at the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce offices — and via Zoom. If you’d like to be part of these discussions, please reach out to me or contact the Chamber staff.
Tony Sapienza
Co-owner, Blue Shutters Beachside Inn
Chair, Tourism Council
tsapienza@gmail.com
Learn more about the Greater Cape Ann Chamber’s Tourism Council
