Mayor Jay Gillian reported record parking revenue and near-record beach tag sales for the summer.
By Donald Wittkowski
Ocean City’s 2016 summer tourism season basically mirrored the weather: Some stretches were spectacular, some were iffy, but overall, things were pretty good.
While city officials were hopeful for a blockbuster season, Memorial Day to Labor Day proved to be solid, if not sensational, according to a summer wrap-up by business and tourism leaders Thursday.
“It was a good summer, but there were a lot of challenges with the weather,” said Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Some businesses fared very well, much better than others. A lot was weather-related.”
Mayor Jay Gillian, who is married to Michele Gillian, characterized the summer season as a “great one” overall during his remarks to a business summit at the Port-O-Call Hotel. But the mayor also noted that business levels reflected the vagaries of the weather.
Tourism was particularly strong during a span of ideal weather in June and through the Fourth of July weekend. But oppressively hot and humid conditions took over through much of July and August, cutting into business, officials said.
Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, called the summer "good."
There were a number of key metrics that underscored the overall strength of the summer season. A steady stream of summer entertainment was highlighted by the city’s best-ever concert series, including sold out shows by Jason Mraz, George Thorogood and the Beach Boys, the mayor said.
The city posted $3.1 million in parking revenue in 2016, a new record overall and up 3.5 percent compared to the summer of 2015, Gillian said. Parking revenue rose in June and July, but was off slightly in August.
Beach tag sales generated a little more than $4.1 million in revenue, just $63,000 shy of the record set in the summer of 2015, the mayor said. Overall, the city sold 483,351 beach tags in 2016.
However, sales of daily beach tags were down overall for the summer. After rising in June and July, they fell by 18,000 in August and were off by another 9,000 in September, Gillian said. He blamed September’s decline on Hurricane Hermine.
The threat of Hurricane Hermine slamming into the Jersey shore scared away scores of visitors during the pivotal Labor Day weekend. Meteorologists had predicted a big hit from Hermine, but the storm veered farther out to sea, leaving the shore largely untouched.
Wes Kazmarck, president of the Ocean City Boardwalk Merchants Association, called Hermine “the storm that wasn’t.” He lamented the phantom storm’s impact on business, particularly the mass exodus of tourists in the middle of the Labor Day weekend.
Kazmarck described the summer of 2016 as a “serious grind” because of the struggles with bad weather from time to time. Altogether, though, the Boardwalk merchants were satisfied with the summer, he noted.
“In a nutshell, I think most merchants will take it,” he said.
Like their counterparts on the Boardwalk, store owners in the city’s downtown business district also enjoyed a strong summer, said Shawnda McGinnis, a marketing official with the Chamber of Commerce. McGinnis said a survey of local businesses showed that the summer season was “moderately good to great most of the time.”
Mayor Jay Gillian reported record parking revenue and near-record beach tag sales for the summer.
Jane Davis, treasurer of the Ocean City Restaurant Association, reported that the restaurant sector also did well during the summer. One negative trend, though, was an unexplained drop-off in midweek business for restaurants in the south end of town, she said.
“Overall, the restaurant association feels we had a pretty darn good summer,” Davis said.
The summer season was boosted by positive publicity stemming from Ocean City’s selection as the “Best Beach in America” in a nationwide online poll conducted by Coastal Living Magazine. Ocean City also won a series of state and regional “Best Beach” contests.
The mayor expressed hope that momentum generated during the summer will carry over into the fall season and into next year.
“I’m looking forward to a great fall season and, of course, another spectacular summer in 2017,” he said in closing remarks to the business summit.
