Leaf Peeping

Also called fall color tourism, the practice of traveling to view and photograph autumn foliage, an American term first recorded in 1966 that describes a pursuit with much older roots elsewhere: in Japan it is momijigari, or hunting autumn leaves, a tradition reaching back to the Heian period that became widely popular in the eighteenth century and remains an important seasonal custom today, with Kyoto and Miyajima Island among its favored destinations. In the United States the hobby is centered on New England and New York and has become a significant driver of regional tourism, Vermont alone drawing an estimated 600 million dollars a year from leaf peepers, up from 332 million dollars in 2009, with states competing through advertising and discounted lodging; similar seasonal pursuits exist elsewhere under their own names, including ruskaretki in Finland, dan pung ku gyeong in South Korea and shangye in China. Climate change, wildfires, hurricanes and pest infestations are now cited as threats to the foliage the hobby depends on.