The forecast for vibrant colors for foliage season should certainly be welcome news to everyone in New Hampshire, and particularly for those businesses which rely on the visitors who come to the Granite State to feast their eyes on one of Mother Nature's greatest shows on earth.

The abundance of rain the region received this summer has let maple and oak trees make more sugar. The weather this week, which featured cooler, sunny days and chilly nights with temperatures in the 40s and 50s is an important ingredient for creating a good foliage season, explained Karen Bennett, a forestry specialist of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension in Durham.

Peak fall foliage is typical around the Columbus Day weekend in the Lakes Region, and experts are expecting that to hold true for this year.

The moisture, combined with cooler days and sunshine during daylight hours, should produce a brilliant fall foliage season, according to Lourdes Avilés, an assistant meteorology professor at Plymouth State University.

That good news combined with a projection by Institute for New Hampshire Studies, based at Plymouth State, for the state office of Travel and Tourism show that fall tourism to be close to last year's levels. About 7.5 million visitors are expected, and while the numbers of tourists is expected to be down slightly, their spending is anticipated to be 2 percent higher than the record level of spending than it was last fall, exceeding $1.1 billion.

Fall travel is becoming a bigger and bigger segment of the tourism market. Some businesses in the Lakes Region find that the fall is their busiest time — not summer or winter which many think of as the big money-making seasons.

With still plenty of unsettling economic news, it comes as a relief to hear a forecast that an important part of our economy appears to be in a position to ride out the difficulties of these arduous times. That is good news for the businesses which cater to tourists and for the employees of hospitality businesses and retail establishments who depend on visitors for their livelihood.