Backyard attractions

Although gas prices are staying stubbornly high, the world and national economies remain precarious, and the stock markets unsettled amid the US government’s downgraded credit rating and hazy fiscal future, the region is nonetheless slowly recovering from the storms - both real and economic - of the past few years. It’s a slow improvement that’s fueled, many say, by area residents discovering, and oftentimes rediscovering, nearby attractions.

Take Jennifer Cabral of Tiverton, R.I.: She and a friend - both weighted down by shopping bags - explored the streets of downtown Salem on a recent hot and sunny Friday afternoon.

“We hit the little shops, did some early Christmas shopping,’’ Cabral said with a laugh as she stood in the shade next to the National Park Service’s Visitor Center on New Liberty Street.

Nearby, other groups and families strolled; pedicabs waited to be hailed; interpreters milled about in Colonial dress; trolleys full of passengers rumbled past; and Segway tours whirred along in packs. “I like the history, and all the stuff that goes with it,’’ Cabral continued, showing off several colorful, blown-glass “witch balls’’ (meant to trap evil spirits) that she purchased for friends and family.

“People still want to get out, they still want to experience a vacation,’’ said Susan Middleton Campbell, with the North of Boston Convention and Visitor Bureau. In doing that, she noted, people are looking to “what’s in their own backyard.’’

Salem, Newburyport, Marblehead and Cape Ann are particularly appealing destinations, she said, and the region as a whole is attracting visitors from throughout New England, New York, and New Jersey who are trekking out on what she called “daycations’’ - that is, staying one or two nights instead several days or a week.

Backing this up, she noted that in June, occupancy rates in Essex County were up 4.2 percent compared with June 2010.

The coastlines have similarly been busy.

“Certainly the activity on the beach has been up,’’ Garneau said of Revere.