County Tourism Releases Mid-Summer Survey

COURT HOUSE — “The mid-summer survey results are in, and as predicted, so far the 2010 summer season is better than 2009.
Overwhelmingly, Cape May County businesses are having a good summer,” according to Diane Wieland, director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism. “In fact, according to the survey, 85 percent of countywide businesses are having a Strong to Good to Moderate summer season. In 2009, that rating was 61 percent” Wieland added.
With the summer season half over the Cape May County Department of Tourism, released the results of its mid-summer survey created to assess the 2010 summer season. The Mid-Summer Report Card helps to determine the current business climate in the county and guide future marketing for the department.
The Cape May County Department of Tourism in cooperation with the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce surveyed local businesses to measure the impact of the summer season. A full 62 percent of the respondents indicated that they were having a ‘Good’ summer.
The breakdown of that 62 percent includes; one in five or 19 percent reported their summer as strong; four out of 10 or 40 percent indicated a good summer; and, 3 percent of the respondents said summer business exceeded expectations.
Slightly more than one in five businesses or 23 percent said the summer was moderate or the same as last year, and 13 percent said the summer did not meet their expectations.
Nearly 600 businesses ranging from accommodations, to restaurants, retail, attractions and transportation were emailed the survey on Aug. 2 in an effort to help county tourism officials assess the summer season.
Nearly half (49 percent) of the respondents of the survey came from the accommodation sector with 18 percent coming from the attractions sector; 16 percent from retail and 15 percent from restaurants and 2 percent from the transportation sector.
A pre-season survey conducted by the Department of Tourism in January found that 57 percent of our visitors planned to return in 2010, respondents to that survey indicated that the economy was going to force many to change their travel habits. Most cited they planned to take shorter and fewer vacations.
“With that in mind the department redirected their marketing plan to concentrate on ‘closer to home’ vacationers within a tank of gas away from Cape May County. More than 30 million people live within a 300-mile radius of this region, said Wieland.
Once again, the success of the year is the number of visitors from the Province of Quebec, said Freeholder Leonard Desiderio, who oversees the Department of Tourism.
Through the research conducted by the Tourism Department, we were able to identify the growth areas for Cape May County and target our top three markets, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and the French Canadian market.
“Considering the uncertain economy, Cape May County fared well this summer.
The balance of the summer and well into fall will be good for the local businesses,” Desiderio added.
Benchmarks used by the businesses to rate the 2010 summer season included prior year comparisons, current economic factors and strength and weaknesses of reservations and/or sales.
Special events, especially those that are ‘family oriented’ are good for business according to 87 percent of the respondents. Shoulder season events are at the top of the list as most important attractors for pre and post season business.
Packaging with other local businesses is a growing trend with 61 percent of the businesses reaching out to partner with events and restaurants to develop cost effective packages and incentives for the visitors.
The number of businesses that are packaging with other businesses doubled from the 2009 survey.
Slightly over 30 percent of the businesses advertised more in 2010 than in 2009 and 55 percent advertised at the same level this year as last year; 13 percent advertise less.
Comments from some businesses concerning advertising were to use more social media and Internet advertising options in the future.
When asked what some of the biggest challenges for businesses in 2010 was, 62 percent said the number one challenge was the economy.
The second highest ranking was the weather the third greatest challenge was marketing, the forth was fuel/energy costs, and the fifth was taxes.
When asked about projections for the late summer and fall, 43 percent indicated that reservations were the same as 2009 and 29 percent said 2010 was better than last year reservations.
Fall projections also looked good with 55 percent indicating that reservations were on par with 2009 and 20 percent saying reservations were up for 2010.