Debee Tlumacki for the Boston Globe Summer forecast bright for tourist trade

New England’s winter of discontent has indeed made for a possible glorious summer, at least for those in the hospitality industry. Across eastern New England, tourism officials from to Cape Cod to Portsmouth, N.H. to Bar Harbor, Maine, are expecting what could be the best season in years, driven by an improving economy, lower gas prices, and travelers determined to make the most of summer after a brutal winter of record snow fall and cold.