NEW BEDFORD – The Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism has created a new initiative and trail to promote whale watches, museums, tours and heritage sites in the state called the Massachusetts Whale Trail, the state tourism office and the Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau announced Monday.
The Whale Trail includes 11 sites in New Bedford, including the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Seaman’s Bethel and the “Whaleman” statue. The program was touted as a “major collaboration” between Bay State tourism sites.
The trail extends from New Bedford to the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard up to Newburyport, Mass. The trail also includes “literary tangent connecting sites in Western Massachusetts.”
“The Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau is excited to be a centerpiece of this effort by MOTT to find new and exciting ways to package our Commonwealth thematically through the Whale Trail,” said Rick Kidder, CEO of the SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau in a statement. “The Whale Trail brings together many of the assets near and dear to our region and reflective our past, present and future.”
MOTT estimated that whale-related tourism accounts for more than 800,000 visitors to the state annually.
MOTT also created a website to promote the trail. More information can be found at WhaleTrailMA.com
