Nearly five years after the Old Man of the Mountain’s demise, it’s tough to get a clear picture of how the collapse has affected tourism in New Hampshire or to predict the success of a planned memorial for the site.
But the few statistics available, coupled with anecdotal evidence, suggest that at least some tourists are staying away. Visits to some attractions near the Old Man site, such as the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway and the Flume, have dropped since 2003. But experts point out that those numbers were already falling before the Old Man collapsed.
One couple from California says they had wanted to see the Old Man of the Mountain for years but it fell just months before their scheduled trip to New England. They went to Franconia Notch anyway to see where the granite profile was once visible.