Rebecca Scott has worked in the coastal hotel industry for 10 years, and in that time, she’s seen the lines of the traditional tourist season blur.

Gone are the days when visitors stuck to traveling only between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

“Wilmington has grown so much, and there are simply more reasons to visit throughout the year now. Events, youth sports, concerts, corporate development and the continued growth of the area have all helped extend the season,” said Scott, who is the dual director of sales for Hotel Lela Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Tru by Hilton Wilmington, both at 5001 Market St. in Wilmington.

She said people seem much more willing these days to travel to the Wilmington area outside of the traditional summer vacation window than they were years ago.

“There are certainly still slower periods, especially during the winter, but I don’t think Wilmington feels quite as seasonal as it once did,” Scott said. “The summer will always be our busiest leisure season, but the growth of year-round demand has been really positive for the hotel industry and for Wilmington as a whole.”

She said business during the shoulder season, which typically refers to transitional periods between peak and off-peak seasons, “is incredibly important to us. Wilmington is obviously a very popular summer destination, but hotels can’t survive on summer alone. Fall has actually become a really strong season for our market because we have a great mix of leisure travelers, weddings, festivals, sporting events, corporate travel and group business.”

Downtown Wilmington lost Riverfest, a free fall street festival, this year. The festival’s board voted to cancel it after objecting to the logistics proposed by the city, according to news reports. City officials, meanwhile, have said they were continuing to work on solutions before the cancellation.

Other options, including some new events, remain in place.

“Hopefully with some of these other festivals that are going on, it’ll kind of fill in the gap (left by Riverfest),” said Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau. “From all indications, Riverfest will be back next year.”

Hufham said for the most part, the number of fall and winter events has been increasing in recent years, with other staples like the Ironman 70.3 North Carolina continuing to grow. Registration for the 70.3-mile triathlon, set to take place in Wilmington on Oct. 17, is sold out, according to the Ironman website.

A recent count of the CVB’s event calendar entries showed more than 200 offerings between mid-September and the end of the year, Hufham said.

One of the new events Hufham highlighted includes the Carolina Beach MusicFest: Fall Reggae, a day of live reggae performances on the town’s beach stage. The concert was scheduled for Oct. 3 as of press time and is a spinoff of the annual Carolina Beach Music Festival, which celebrated 40 years of performances in June.

The American Craft Walk brought people downtown Sept. 12, while Trask Family Farms began drawing visitors to its pumpkin patch on Blue Clay Road on Sept. 19.

From Sept. 18-20, Hey 23: A Call Back to Tree Hill took place at the Wilmington Convention Center. The event celebrated the 23rd anniversary of the locally filmed TV show “One Tree Hill,” which ran from 2003 to 2012 and has inspired multiple reunions in the Port City over the years.

“People come from all over the United States and abroad sometimes to come to that for the weekend,” Hufham said.

In addition to highlighting events, the Wilmington Area Hospitality Association (WAHA) urges members to create promotions that highlight collaborations, such as discounts, between destination products, WAHA president Jean Guinup said.

“Today’s travelers seek experiences,” Guinup said. “The more we enhance guests’ experiences in the way of special offers, packaged events and promotions during the shoulder season, the greater the uptake.”

Flexibility is vitally important during slower seasons, Scott said.

“We have a lot more opportunity to get creative with rates, packages, meeting space and group arrangements when we aren’t dealing with peak summer demand. For us, having two connected hotels is also a unique advantage because we can offer different price points and experiences while still keeping a group together,” she said. “We can accommodate everything from corporate trainings and military groups to family reunions and weekend events.”

The hotels also have meeting and event space, a restaurant (Paloma’s at Lela), golf simulators and other amenities, Scott said.

To capture some off-season demand, hotels and other businesses also have to build relationships in their local markets.

“A lot of our shoulder season business comes from companies and organizations right here in Wilmington that may need meeting space, accommodations for visiting employees, holiday events or rooms for a project,” Scott said.

She said participating in networking events, such as those held by WAHA, the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce and others throughout the year “helps us build those relationships and generate off-season business. Staying connected within the community helps keep our hotels top of mind when those opportunities come up.”