Marketing south Jersey’s market taking a different form in 2021
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Sentinel
In a year that was anything but typical, beach communities came up with creative solutions to create a safe tourist environment. While the year saw a decrease in seasonal numbers from the 2019 season, the tourism season continued well into the offseason.
“Overall we were down about 25 percent from our 2019 numbers,” Cape May County Chamber of Commerce President Vicki Clark said. “Given everything, all the factors, that’s really pretty good.”
In Atlantic County, the pandemic hit very hard. At Stockton University, the Lloyd. D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism (LIGHT) examined the tourism patterns in 2020.
“Traffic into Atlantic City via the Pleasantville Toll Plaza of the Atlantic City Expressway declined 30 percent from May through September 2020 compared to the same period in 2019,” LIGHT institute coordinator Dr. Jane Bokunewicz said.
The decline in tourism from the pandemic can be attributed to decreases in consumer demand and restrictions placed on operators to control the virus’s spread, Bokunewicz said. It also contributed to industrywide job losses and very narrow profit margins for operators.
The tourism product had to evolve to survive in 2020, and companies had the opportunity to examine their business models and determine how to best serve their customers.
“Operators embraced technology at a much faster rate than they may have otherwise,” Bokunewicz said. “They developed new products and services that are likely to continue into 2021 and beyond.”
During the offseason, the Chamber of Commerce participates in tourism and travel events to promote Cape May County as a destination.
“This time of the year, we would be getting ready to have teams going out to tourism travel shows,” Clark said. “We partner with the Cape May County Department of Tourism and our Southern Shore region [destination marketing organizations].”
With no travel shows scheduled because of COVID-19, the marketing methods will have change to reach potential visitors within a three-hour drive.
“There will be more social media, billboards and those types of marketing,” Clark said. “The world has changed and you can now support local businesses online, so in 2021, as destination marketers, that’s how we amplify our message.”
The hospitality and restaurant industries were some of the hardest hit, as state mandates kept businesses closed during the pre-summer season.
“With limited occupancy for about two and a half months, there was significant ground to make up,” Clark said. “On the other hand, we saw an increase in short-term and long-term rentals.”
Many second-homeowners chose to shelter in place and work remotely in Cape May County.
“There were people who chose to invest in a long-term rental since they could work anywhere, Clark said. “We saw people enrolling children in the local schools or kids doing distance learning from their Cape May County address.”
The Chamber of Commerce ran a “staying open safer together” marketing campaign to help re-open. The campaign provided marketing toolkits for local businesses to promote the safety steps required, such as social distancing.
“Cape May County is very proactive for our tourism industry,” Clark said. “Now the marketing campaign is to ‘finish stronger.’”
Clark said leaders on the business, municipal and county levels are mindful of tourism as the economic engine that keeps the county going.
“It stimulates our local and county tax dollars and we send a lot of tax dollars to Trenton,” She said. “We were very mindful of the fact that we needed to get our tourism back in the safest way possible.”
As restrictions were lifted in June and hotels could increase their occupancies, visitors came down to get fresh air after being cooped up.
“Cape May County did better than anywhere else in the state, from a tourism perspective,” Clark said. “All the tourism entities did very well because people wanted to be outside.”
Municipalities, like West Cape May, passed ordinances allowing restaurants to expand upon their outdoor dining.
“Cape May County was a leader in establishing expanded outdoor dining,” Clark said. “They knew we had to give our businesses a chance to survive.”
The chamber started Facebook groups for “Cape May County Dining” and “Cape May County Shopping,” to expand upon social media users to get the word out to support local businesses.
“We have seen an emphasis more than ever to shop local, which of course is the chamber philosophy,” Clark said. “It’s become very personal with people in a way that it never was before.”
The second homeowners who chose to stay in Cape May during the fall continued to help with the tourism sector.
“I think it’s been a nice boost to our local economy,” Clark said. “Typically the fall is very dependent on special events like festivals, fall weddings and family events, but we didn’t have those kinds of events to drive traffic here this year.”
In Atlantic County, visitors came from different market segments.
“Regional visitors who might have traveled elsewhere for their summer vacations, or deferred vacation, opted for Atlantic County’s shore destinations as an alternative,” Bokunewicz said. “[They took] advantage of area beaches and the boardwalk.”
Compared to 2019, Clark said September 2020 outpaced the previous year.
“The traffic was very organic this year,” Clark said. “There’s an opportunity that we’ve seen in the real estate market, in terms of people buying homes. It’s interesting to see how this will pace over time.”
When the world enters 2021, the strategies adopted during the pandemic, such as outdoor dining, will continue in the future.
“It will likely become part of the ‘new normal,” Bokunewicz said. “The plan is to continue delivering a safe and healthy tourism product. As visitors become more confident and comfortable with traveling again, Atlantic county businesses will be ready to provide the same quality service.”