• The Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie has seen a 12 percent to 14 percent increase in occupancy rates in the last year, said General Manager Sam Johnson.

• The Kirkland Downtown Association reports it can't keep maps of the popular waterfront downtown in stock Just a few days into his first visit to Western Washington, Pennsylvania native Tom Pullman hit Seattle's tourism staples — the top of the Space Needle and the Ballard Locks.  Then he headed east — not just across the mountains to Leavenworth, but across Lake Washington to Woodinville, where he went wine-tasting at Chateau Ste. Michelle.  "I drink a lot of Chateau Ste. Michelle at home, and I really wanted to come to this winery," he said after sampling a fruity chardonnay.

Tourists are coming to the region in record numbers, part of a national rebound in the tourism industry following the hit it took after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to travel-industry experts.  And increasing numbers are exploring Eastside attractions.  More than 12 million people visited the state in 2005, spending $12.7 billion, an increase of $1 billion over the previous year, according to numbers released Thursday by the Tourism Office of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.  King County's cut of that total was $6.2 billion, up $6 million from the previous year.

Historically, an estimated 15 - 24 % of tourism dollars spent in King County are spent on the Eastside, according to previous studies by the East King County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which closed in 2002.  What's luring visitors across the lake can vary, from easier parking to a growing list of local attractions.

"It's less congested than Seattle, and not quite as busy," said Sandra Groff, of Carson City, Nev., who stopped in Kirkland for an Argosy boat tour on Lake Washington after coming to Seattle for a convention. Groff also made time for a ride on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train from Renton to the Columbia Winery in Woodinville.

While no official numbers are available yet for 2006, many Eastside tourist attractions report a busy summer:

• In July, Eastside hotels had an occupancy rate of 79 percent, up 5 percent from last year, said Wolfgang Rood, a hotel consultant for the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau. Seattle hotels had an occupancy rate of 88 percent, up 1 percent from a year ago.

. "We produced 500 maps a couple of months ago, and now we're out of it," said administrative assistant Kellie Jordan.

• The number of visitors to Mount Si in North Bend has doubled in the last 10 years to 200,000, and they are packing the parking lot, said State Department of Natural Resources manager Doug McClelland.

Business is also bustling at the new downtown Westin Bellevue. General Manager Matt Van Der Peet said occupancy at the 337-room hotel has jumped to 70 percent since it opened in November 2005.

The building's owner, developer Kemper Freeman, said the number of out-of-state visitors coming to his downtown Bellevue hotels and stores is growing. Last October, his company began marketing the properties as a destination retail resort to six areas west of Chicago and north of San Francisco, including Wyoming, Western Canada and Alaska. Shoppers from those areas now comprise 10 percent to 15 percent of the total number of visitors, he said.  "What we realized is the shops we consider normal here are unique, because in Boise or Billings or Butte, there aren't enough people in that demographic to support these shops that we take for granted in Bellevue," Freeman said.

Other communities and businesses are working to create tourism niches, such as the Woodinville wine and restaurant industries. The city has become a hot spot for wine and food aficionados, said John Erdman, executive director of the city's Chamber of Commerce.  "More people are coming to the Eastside because it's easy to get around and wine is becoming the absolutely 'in' thing to do," Erdman said.  The Columbia Winery saw 200,000 visitors in 2005, up 14 percent from the year before, said spokeswoman Holly Leuning. The winery's longtime partnership with the dinner train brings in about 40 percent of visitors, she added.  Chateau Ste. Michelle had 300,000 visitors in 2005, said the winery's communications director, Kari Leitch.

Older Eastside tourism spots continue to hold their own. Snoqualmie Falls saw 2 million visitors last year — up from 1.5 million a decade ago, said Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman Dorothy Bracken.  The State Fish Hatchery in Issaquah drew 350,000 visitors last year and the Bellevue Botanical Garden's biggest event of the year, Garden d'Lights, attracted 80,000 people, up from 60,000 in 2004.

Some communities have collaborated on marketing their attractions. Redmond and Woodinville put out the Sammamish Valley Recreation Guide two years ago.  But collaborations have become more difficult since the Eastside visitors bureau closed. At its height, the bureau represented 500 members in 16 cities through unified tourism promotions.  The bureau's closure due to lack of funding created a data vacuum for Eastside-tourism statistics, said former bureau head Jim Pearman.

"It's unfortunate, but basically there's no real voice for what should be the second or third largest tourism area in the state of Washington," said Pearman, now a Mercer Island councilman. "Cities have pretty much gotten very polarized in just their own interests rather than working as a cooperative."

The challenge for the Eastside is finding ways to entice visitors in Seattle to cross the bridges and explore East King County, Pearman said.

Developers are hoping to do just that. Freeman wants his Bellevue projects to make up a dense, pedestrian-friendly retail boulevard, such as Chicago's "Miracle Mile" — a street with skyscrapers containing apartments, offices and shops.

Meanwhile, workers recently finished restoration of the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie and earlier this summer developers broke ground on a $170 million "wine village" in Woodinville that is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

The growth has been great for Kyle Twede, owner of Twede's Café in North Bend. He said he's seen a shift in clientele from local day hikers and fans of the 1990s television show "Twin Peaks," which was filmed in North Bend, to a growing number of out-of-town families stopping for a bite while vacationing.  Business this year has been "phenomenal," but the tourist season can get overwhelming, he said.  "I'm glad everyone is coming here and liking the area," said Twede, a native Eastsider.  "But I hope they go home."