Jersey Shorecast sees a good season ahead, but it won’t match last one
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — The summer tourist season is forecast to be strong but maybe not as strong as 2021, which was fueled by pent-up demand for travel and financial stimulus following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stockton University’s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism presented its 14th annual Jersey Shorecast on May 11.
Oliver Cooke, associate economic professor at Stockton University and editor of the South Jersey Economic Review, said 2021 was a solid year of rebound for local tourism and hospitality but employment levels in the industry have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Cooke called summer 2021 “very robust” based on hotel/motel room tax data.
“It’s probably going to make 2022 pretty tough in terms of year-on-year comparisons given what happened last year,” Cooke said.
For summer 2022, he predicts a very strong season but one that may not be as robust as last year.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we were close to where we were last summer but it’s going to be very hard to look back and say 2022 was just unbelievable because 2021 was so high on a year-to-year basis,” Cooke said.
Cape May County Tourism Director Diane Wieland said the county has recovered 96 percent compared to 2019. Lodging in 2021 surpassed 2019, which was a record year, she said. The county had 10.3 million visitors last year.
The 2022 season is looking great, she said.
Normally, 100,000 Canadians visit the county in July and August, but the border was closed for the past two summers. Wieland said Canadians formerly gravitated toward campgrounds but the trend now is for hotel stays.
“What we’re hearing from them is the gas prices aren’t going to impact them, they’ve been paying a lot for gas anyway,” she said.
On a question of how gasoline prices, inflation and a potential recession would affect the upcoming summer season, Cooke said he believes inflation would play a huge role for all of 2022 but that high gasoline prices often work to southern New Jersey’s benefit because vacationers plan shorter trips.
Wieland said advertising for Cape May County tourism is repeating a tag line used in commercials in 2009, Cape May County is just “a tank of gas away.”
“There’s 30 million people within a 300-mile radius, so we wanted to resonate with them that it’s a tank of gas away,” she said.
Due to inflation, every dollar spent at the gas station or grocery store will affect visitors’ discretionary spending and may cause some to shorten their vacations, Wieland said. She said restaurant spending could be affected if visitors decide to substitute take-out food for sit-down dining.
“The key word right now is to be flexible and understanding, so we can still get our visitors here,” Wieland said.
She said Cape May County started to see recovery in 2020 with record occupancy in September and October of that year. The county saw an 11 percent increase in visitors during winter 2020, she said.
Sharon Franz, sales and marketing director for Steel Pier in Atlantic City, said visitors are now camping and fishing more than in the past. She said she expected the 2022 summer season to produce a little less than 2021 “because that extra money is not there.”
Jim Ziereis, vice president of sales for Caesars Entertainment’s Atlantic City region, said the COVID pandemic caused an emphasis on cleanliness at its hotels and casinos. Hotels now have self-check-in kiosks at the front desk, he said.
In the future, desk clerks may be able to walk around and check guests in with iPads, Ziereis said.
Franz said staffing remains an issue and that Steel Pier is in competition for hiring with casinos.
She said Steel Pier is hiring J-1 visa students this summer but having issues with housing.
“The boarding homes are now being changed into boutique hotels, so it’s all good things. But in the same token, those are the places where the J-1s would stay, so now we’re seeing a little difficulty in finding housing for them,” Franz said.
Ziereis said Caesars has a section of the Chelsea Hotel to house J-1 workers that includes a cafeteria. J-1s cannot come to America without guaranteed housing, Franz added.
Wieland said many houses in Cape May County that were available for rent are being purchased as year-round homes, taking those units off the market. She said the change affects not only workers but those seeking weekly vacation rentals.
The supply of rental properties for this summer is nearly depleted, Wieland said.
“Are we not going to see the return visitor or are we not going to see growth?” she asked. “When we look at 85 percent of our visitors are return visitors and there’s that 15 percent that’s new, that we want them to continue to grow the new visitor, who soon becomes the return visitor, what we’re finding now has now become the homeowner.”
Ziereis said the Caesars properties run out of rooms during busy summer weekends.
Cooke said the local unemployment rate is about 6 percent, higher than the national rate.
Franz said there is competition for hiring employees with wages from $17 to $20 per hour.
By JACK FICHTER/Sentinel staff