If you walk down the crowded streets of Salem in October, you’ll come face to face – literally – with witches, goblins, ghosts, and a whole lot of tourists. The small coastal city of 45,000 is just eight square miles, with downtown and waterfront areas representing only a fraction of that area. Yet a love of history and Halloween tradition brought more than a million visitors to the witch city last year in the month of October alone, breaking a record.  

To the delight of local businesses and often the dismay of downtown residents, Salem has something other Gateway Cities don’t: a thriving seasonal tourism economy. But its tourism boom in recent decades has been met with contempt from many local residents who struggle to leave their homes amid the October crowds and heavy traffic. And the tourism season is only getting longer.  

But no spell or magic can stop the visitors from coming, meaning the city has to step up.  

This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s Gateway Cities reporter Hallie Claflin interviews Mayor Dominick Pangallo of Salem.  

“Our October preparation happens all year long. We start November 1,” Pangallo said. “We have about three and a half to four million tourists come to Salem every year, but to have a million of them coming in one month is definitely a significant endeavor for us to be able to manage that.”  

Pangallo explains that while essential to the local economy, the tourism boom isn’t as lucrative as some may think. He says the city spent close to $640,000 last year preparing for the flock of October tourists, most of which is spent on increased police presence and public works like barricades, portable restrooms, trash receptacles, and more. 

The city brought in about $700,000 in revenues last October, not including its meals and lodging tax, which is reported quarterly instead of monthly and totaled $1.5 million in the quarter that included October last year. It’s a small amount when compared to the city’s more than $200 million annual budget.  

“It’s helpful, but it’s not the largest source of revenue supporting city services by any means,” Pangallo said. “But it helps support the services that we especially need to be able to provide in October.”  

Pangallo pointed to a bill proposed by Gov. Maura Healey that would give municipalities the option to increase their local tax on meals and lodging. He says the city already meets the maximum limit set for both and adjusting it upward could help shift the city’s cost burdens onto the tourists who directly benefit from the services. 

For local businesses, tourism is lucrative, generating around $140 million in direct spending alone, Pangallo said.   

The tourism industry represents about 1200 jobs in Salem, which is just four percent of the local labor force, Pangallo said. But because of the visitor economy, the city enjoys a 98 percent storefront occupancy rate in the downtown and waterfront areas. But there are a handful of those that don’t benefit from the Halloween buzz.  

“Not every business in our downtown is connected to the tourism industry, so when October comes around, some of those places have a hard time with the regulars being able to get in and get a haircut or pick up something at the store,” Pangallo said.  

On the episode, Pangallo discusses how the city plans for the October influx (3:00), how lucrative the visitor economy truly is (7:49), and a pending state policy change that would benefit Salem (21:09).