BANGOR – Jennifer Winchester has had about all she can take of this Maine winter. She wants a tropical vacation, an oasis beyond a landscape that has been hit with 18 snowstorms and counting.

On Wednesday morning, the 38-year-old mother of two from Bucksport appeared in the doorway of All About Travel on Stillwater Avenue in search of a family-friendly resort in the Caribbean or Mexico.

“This has been a really bad winter for us. We just need to get away,” Winchester said, noting that in addition to the season’s 74.5 inches of snow, she was recently in a car accident.

All About Travel manager Dee-Anne McDonald said Winchester is part of an influx of customers who have called or visited in recent months to request a week in the sun.

“The day after it snows, people call me and say, ‘Get me out of here,'” McDonald said. “The more it snows, the more people we get calling.”

At Bangor International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, New Brunswick travelers Clarence and Gaetane Vienneau and their 16-year-old son, Sylvain, were all smiles as they waited in line at the ticket counter before their flight to Boston and then Orlando, Fla.

Sylvain Vienneau wore shorts and flip-flops in anticipation of the weather that he hoped would greet him that afternoon.

“I like winter,” said Gaetane Vienneau, explaining that snow was not what prompted their first trip to Florida. “I always dreamed of going to Disney.”

Despite the weakened U.S. economy, foreclosure rates and consumer credit card debt, people in Maine are still going on vacation, according to many local and statewide travel agents. They say they have seen a jump in business this year, and that it might have something to do with the snow.

“People need to travel. It’s become for many people sort of an emotional need,” said Steve Hewins, vice president of AAA Northern New England’s travel division, based in Portland. “There’s no question that bad weather drives travel sales. … Travel is a very psychological business. People will react to the conditions.”

In January, AAA Northern New England and its subsidiary, Hewins Travel, saw a 13.8 percent increase in gross travel sales – which include air, car, hotel, resort, tour and cruise bookings and service fees – over the same month last year. Travel revenues in January 2008 totaled $10 million in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Hewins said. Of that amount, $1.4 million was spent on cruise bookings and $3.6 million was spent on tours.

Hewins said he notices a trend of clients booking last-minute trips, sometimes just a few weeks in advance of their departure date.

Cindy Hardy, owner of Bangor Travel Services on Broad Street in Bangor, agreed.

“Clientele that weren’t going to go anywhere, the snow is driving them absolutely crazy and they call and say, ‘I do have the money and I am going to go away,'” Hardy said.

By 1 p.m. Wednesday, Hardy had booked seven new warm-weather trips to Jamaica, Bermuda, Orlando and the Turks & Caicos Islands, among others.

Despite the weakening U.S. dollar, Main 1 Travel on Main Street in Bangor is still busy booking group trips to Europe, Australia and Asia, according to owner Julie Picard.

“High-end travel is way up,” she said. “If there’s a void, it’s maybe some families who’ve given up a trip because of oil prices.”

When asked, none of the travel agents said they had lost much business to Internet travel Web sites.

“A lot of people don’t know that we can usually still beat those [discount] prices,” said McDonald of All About Travel. “You come here when you’d like a little more information on the place [than you would] get on the Internet.”

Her client, Jennifer Winchester, browsed through brochures of glittering beaches and turquoise seas. She said her family might end up booking a trip for next year, but at least they would have something to look forward to.

“We’re just trying to find a place to get away to first,” Winchester said.