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SALEM (WBZNewsRadio) - The Witch City is seeing a record number of visitors this October, despite a number of road closures and warnings from city leaders not to drive to the Halloween destination.
Just last weekend alone 157,700 people visited the city, with just over 100,800 on Saturday October15th and nearly 56,900 on Sunday, October 16th. Over the first sixteen days of October Salem had 507,700 visitors downtown, up 15 percent from the same timeframe last year.
With all those additional tourists, the trains, parking lots and streets are full and it's big business for local towing companies.
"October in Salem is crazy, thousands and thousands of people." Bills Auto Clinic Manager Brett said. "During Halloween time, the city posts downtown area is residents only. So Salem police, state police go around looking for a tag the city gives residents and if you don't have the tag you'll get towed."
Brett said he's seeing cars from all over and recommends if you're going to drive, park on the outskirts of town and walk. Salem city officials continue to recommend taking public transportation and suggest planning ahead, buying tickets to attractions or tours ahead of time, rather than taking the trip on a whim.
The city announced both additional inbound and outbound trains will be added to the Newburyport Rockport Line during the remaining weekends in October.
There will be a press conference from the City of Salem, Salem police and Keolis regarding visiting Salem, Friday morning at 10:30 a.m.
WBZ's James Rojas (@JamesRojasNews) reports
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