COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho businesses that offer tourists recreation, entertainment and a place to stay have been encouraged by what they've seen so far this summer.

And even though rain and cooler weather during May and June dampened demand in some ways, businesses here remained even with last year's sales numbers. Others have seen some gains from last year, particularly since the warmer weather kicked in this month.

New statewide numbers suggest tourism is up recently in Idaho, compared with the year-earlier period.

Bibiana Nertney, a spokeswoman for the Idaho Department of Commerce, said revenues from the 2 percent bed tax on hotel, motel and private campgrounds were up statewide in May and June.

That followed 19 consecutive months when those revenues dropped, she said. The state's tourism industry generates more than $3 billion every year.

"We're seeing some positive signs of people traveling again," Nertney said. "More people are staying in hotels. That's good news. We're optimistic about the summer season."

Barry Smith, a tourist visiting North Idaho last week with his family from Camas, Wash., near Portland, said, "Everybody raves about Coeur d'Alene, and it is beautiful. I kind of wanted to know what it's all about here."

Smith and his wife and two kids plan to spend eight days visiting. He said they're drawn to the area by the climate, scenery, reasonable prices and laid-back, family friendly atmosphere.

"We'll be making the eight-hour drive next year too," he said.

On Friday, he and his family were at Silverwood Theme Park and Boulder Beach Water Park.

Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood's marketing director, said the number of people visiting the park from outside North Idaho has been up.

Many of the visitors are from western Washington and western Oregon, although on most days there are visitors from throughout the U.S. Many others are from British Columbia and Alberta.

"The good news for the community is the Canadians are back," she said. A nearly even exchange rate has helped.

From July 4 through Thursday, the tourist numbers have skyrocketed compared with last year, she said.

The number of tourists (people outside North Idaho and the Spokane area) increased 48 percent. There were 8,800 more of those visitors during that five-day window than there were last year. The park tracks visitors by zip code.

"That's an amazing increase," she said.

During May and June, tourist visits were flat compared with the year-earlier period. In the 47 days the park was open during those two months, there were 32 days in which the weather was not favorable to business, with rain and temperatures in the 40s and 50s.

That's drastically changed lately.

"We're very optimistic that this is going to be a good season for North Idaho," she said.

Yuriy Azarov, of Longview, Wash., was at the park with his wife and three kids Friday.

"We prefer this place to Disneyland," he said. "We're definitely coming back."

He said North Idaho offers good value to tourists and has a family friendly atmosphere.

Silverwood employs 1,200 people during the summer, many of them high school and college students who are earning money for school.

During the prime season, from mid-July through August, about 78 percent of the visitors to the park are tourists visiting from outside North Idaho.

The park draws nearly 600,000 visitors each summer.

Silverwood isn't the only business doing better this summer.

John Williams, director of marketing at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg, said revenues last month from the Morning Star Lodge were up 15 percent compared with the year-earlier period.

He said the average daily rate on rooms is up 7 percent.

June revenues from the water park there were up 11 percent from last year.

"We're pleased," Williams said. "People are a little more comfortable spending right now. There could be some pent-up demand, too."

The resort gets visitors from Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and western Montana. Many of its tourists are from the Tri-Cities, Wash., and Seattle.

"Mini-vacations are popular," Williams said. "People are staying closer to home."

Travel in a recreation vehicle might be one option for a mini-vacation.

Rain dampened some campers' enthusiasm in May and June, but the owners of Wolf Lodge RV Campground east of Coeur d'Alene said business was still even with last year - if not up just a little.

"It seems like more people are out traveling," said Janie Riley, who owns the campground with her husband, David.

More people who are visiting the campground are staying longer, she said.

"For a lot of people it's their first year with an RV," she said. "A lot of younger families are going the RV route instead of flying somewhere for vacation, like Hawaii. The big draw here is Silverwood."

Many of the campground's visitors are from Canada, Montana, Oregon and Washington, she said.