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Billboard image courtesy Maine Office of Tourism

The Maine Office of Tourism has launched a new winter promotional campaign in hopes of boosting the industry after a dismal season.

The ''Shop, Dine & Stay'' campaign represents a departure from the government agency's typical approach. Large advertising programs do not normally take place at this time of year, when the industry experiences a lull between leaf-peeping season and the holidays.

And past efforts served as branding campaigns for the state as a whole, rather than to promote particular products.

The products in this case are some 100 packages that combine elements of lodging, shopping and dining. The packages are available through the tourism office's Web site: www.visitmaine.com.

The campaign aims to capitalize on Maine's growing reputation as a food lovers' destination and shopping's status as a favorite activity of visitors, according to Pat Eltman, the director of the office, which is part of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

For day-trippers, 61 percent go to Maine to shop, she said, and the promotions could entice them – and others – to extend their stays.

''Shopping is a lot of different things to a lot of different people,'' Eltman said. ''There's boutique shopping, Maine-made products shopping, mall shopping.''

Sheila Matthews-Bull, the owner of the Rhumb Line Resort in Kennebunkport, can attest to the draw of shopping. She said some visitors from Massachusetts arrive Friday and shop around town, spend Saturday in Freeport and hit the Kittery outlets on the way home.

''Sometimes people don't realize how convenient something like this is. You know, if you shop around Boston, you're always in traffic, you can't find a parking space. You don't get that up here,'' said Matthews-Bull, who is offering a special with a $25 restaurant certificate and $500 worth of coupons for Freeport and Kittery outlet stores.

The $100,000 Shop, Dine & Stay campaign involves television and billboard advertising in the Boston area, in addition to ads and inserts in publications in Maine, Massachusetts and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The ads started up earlier this month and will stop running around early December.

The standard winter campaign, which has a budget of about $300,000, will start in January, said Steve Lyons, the office's marketing director. This winter, ''Shop, Dine & Stay'' may be included in that campaign, which emphasizes winter sports and Valentine's Day.

The recession and a wet summer made for a dreary season for the state's tourism industry. Tourism is Maine's single-largest economic sector. Tourists spent $6.7 billion in the state in 2006, which supported 176,633 jobs and produced more than $531 million in tax revenues.

Lodging revenues were down 10.3 percent and restaurant revenues fell 1.9 percent for the 12 months ending in August, according to Maine Revenue Services.

Those were the deepest and most sustained declines seen in those categories since the state started collecting such detailed records on taxable revenue in the early 1970s, said Mike Allen, director of economic research for revenue services.

Retail sales of general merchandise – from establishments such as Walmart, Target or Macy's – were down 5.7 percent in the same period. As expected, the ''Other Retail'' category held up better, Allen said. That category, which was 2.4 percent, covers boutiques and specialty shops that tourists are more likely to frequent.

Vaughn Stinson, chief executive officer of the Maine Tourism Association, lauded the tourism office's campaign. He was glad that it would get people thinking about a trip to Maine but said it could not make up for the losses in 10 key summer weeks.

''It will make the end-of-the-year numbers better than if we just sat on our bums crying,'' he said.

This year was much better than anticipated at the Brewster House Bed & Breakfast in Freeport, said innkeeper Ruth Thomas. But she'd still like to see Shop, Dine & Stay campaign fill in some gaps.

The property has created a package that includes a $100 L.L. Bean gift card and a $50 certificate at the nearby Azure Cafe.

''We're anxious to see how this is going to pan out for us. We've gotten some interest in it,'' she said.

The campaign has generated more hits on visitmaine.com. In the first half of the month, total visits to the site were up 43 percent to 44,639. The number of visitors landing directly on the ''Getaways'' section was up to 4,838 – a whopping 1,421 percent.

It's not just establishments in obvious shopping destinations that are hoping to benefit from the campaign.

Many guests at the Senator Inn and Spa in Augusta use the property as a base for shopping in Bangor, Freeport and Portland, said David Hopkins, general manager. The property is providing a $25 gift card to Target as a special because that store is practically in the property's backyard.

''A lot of people come looking for Target,'' Hopkins said.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at: akim@pressherald.com