Who is visiting Cape May County?By ERIC AVEDISSIAN

Cape May Star and Wave

CAPE MAY COURTHOUSE – The tourism indus-try has to adapt to the post-recession economy by offer-ing values and bargains forcash-strapped customers,according to experts at the2011 Cape May CountyTourism Conference, heldMay 4 at the county adminis-tration building.

The conference updatedbusiness owners and commu-nity leaders on the “new nor-mal” in tourism, an atmos-phere with rising gas prices,political unrest and loweredairfares are changing the faceof the industry.

Cape May County TourismDepartment director DianeWieland told attendees thecounty’s tourism revenueincreased 5.4 percent – one ofthe few counties in NewJersey where revenue wasup.

She said reports of reserva-tions and rental bookingswere up by 5 percent to 20percent from last year aswell.

According to Wieland,tourism expenditures in CapeMay County rose by 5.4 per-cent with $5.27 billion gener-ated in 2010, an increase of$270 million, the highestincrease in the state. Rentalincome also increased in 2010by $100 million with a recordhigh of $1.7 billion collectedin Cape May County.

Wieland said today’s fami-lies are looking for bargainsand values while on vacation.She said in the new normal ontourism, value is key.

“There’s no do-over. If theycome here on vacation and itdoesn’t meet their expecta-tions and they don’t get thatexperience they wanted,they’re not coming back,”Wieland said.

Surveying Guests

Over 90 percent of vacation

planning is done via theInternet, Wieland said.

According to a pre-seasonInternet survey released inApril, 55 percent of those sur-veyed said the recession didnot impact their vacationplans for 2011. The surveyindicated 89 percent of par-ticipants were planning onvacationing in Cape MayCounty.

Fifty percent of those sur-veyed were staying at a hotelor motel, 34 percent werestaying at a rental property, 7percent were staying at acampground, 6 percent werestaying with friends or rela-tives and 4 percent owned asecond home in the county.

The survey revealed 60 per-cent of women make thevacation decision for the fam-ily compared to men at 35percent.

According to the survey, theaverage Cape May Countyvisitor is 45 to 55 years old,has a full-time job and has anannual income of $90,0000 ormore.

Visitors gave high marks toCape May County’s quality ofattractions and services, cus-tomer service, professional-ism and safety.

The French Connection

Wieland said according toCanadian consulate in NewYork City, 70 percent of half amillion Canadians who visitNew Jersey are visiting CapeMay County.

“It is not the Ontario mar-ket. It is the FrenchCanadians from the provinceof Quebec,” Wieland said.“They love this area.”

She said the exchange rateof the Canadian dollar is astrong factor for an increaseof Canadian tourists.

“We are now paying them anickel on every dollar tocome to the United States. Iwon’t say our dollar is weak,we’ll say their dollar isstronger,” Wieland said.

The average Canadian stays

ten days, she said, adding ithelps the county combat the“mid-week slump,” whereattendance weakens in themiddle of the week.

Wieland said per personexpenditures for Canadiansare higher than Americanvisitors. She said Canadianscome to the county for thebeach and outdoors as well asthe shopping.

“In Canada you’re payingabout 19 percent sales taxand everything they cancharge a tax on. They cancome here and take backabout $400 per person thatthey can claim that is taxedand duty-free,” Wieland said.

Cape May County promotesitself to the Canadian market,with advertising in Frenchtargeted toward the Quebecaudience.

Social Networking

Fairleigh DickinsonUniversity InternationalSchool of Hospitality andTourism ManagementAssociate Director DonaldHoover explained the varioussocial media local businessescould use to inform the pub-lic.

Hoover said Facebook, asocial networking site with500 million active users is“where you want to be rightnow.”

Fifty percent of Facebookusers log onto the site everyday and download 30 billionpieces of content each month,he said.

Hoover said Facebook usersinstall 20 million applications(apps) every day.

“We baby boomers are thefastest growing segment onFacebook,” Hoover said.

He said QR (QuickResponse) codes, an electron-ic matrix barcode, can bescanned with camera phonesand linked to websites, videosand driving coordinates issomething businesses canalso use.

Foursquare is anothersocial networking site busi-nesses can use to reward cus-tomers who frequent theirbusinesses, Hoover said.

He said businesses shouldtake advantage of many socialnetworking sites their cus-

tomers use as another way toconnect with them.

“It’s where were headedand as hospitality andtourism professionals we’vegot to understand wherewe’re going,” Hoover said.“Use Facebook, use Twitter.Take a leap out there. Thereare ways to use technologyand a lot of them are free.”

The New Normal

Richard Higginson, directorof research of Public Mind atFairleigh DickinsonUniversity, outlined theresults of a casino destinationsurvey recently released.

The nationwide telephonepoll surveyed 711 adults age18 and above, asking themabout their preferences forcasino destinations.According to the survey, LasVegas was the overwhelmingchoice at 47 percent, followedby New Orleans at 10 percentand Atlantic City at 8 percent.

Of those polled, AtlanticCity received 22 percentfavorable response fromthose polled in the northeast,4 percent in the north central,6 percent in the south and 2percent in the west.

Higginson said reasons fornot picking Atlantic Cityincluded preference to otherdestinations (11 percent),Atlantic City was too far (10percent), or that it was dirty,high crime rate or a dislikefor New Jersey, (each at 2percent).

Asked why they didn’t pickAtlantic City, 24 percentresponded they didn’t know.

Higginson said of those whochose Atlantic City as a firstor second destination, 26 per-cent responded it wasbecause of the ocean or beachwhile 11 percent cited thecasinos as a reason.

Higginson said new normalin tourism is reflected by athe beach and ocean rankinghigh in the survey

“You really have to go outand understand the cus-tomers. You don’t want to besurprised by consumer per-ception,” Higginson said.“The only way to understandconsumer perception is to goout and talk to them.”

This summer interns willperform surveys with com-munities in the county aboutvisitors and collect informa-tion to local businesses sothey could form marketingplans to cater to the clientele.

Another county tourismconference has been plannedfor Oct. 18 and 19, with issuesexploring the art of brandingand the 20 ingredients for asuccessful downtown.

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screening and landscapingthat will blend into the natu-ral setting of the existingenvironment as much as pos-sible.

Kaithern said revisions tothe ordinance would have tobe made if these wind tur-bines were allowed to be usedwithin the municipality.

“We would like to makewind energy a little morereachable for people in thecommunity,” she said.

Kaithern said consideringthe wind energy industry hasevolved so much in recentyears, she felt the ordinanceneeded to be updated anywaysince it was adopted inFebruary 2009.

“We need to bring it up tocurrent speed,” she said.

According to Kaithern, oneborough resident has alreadysaid he would like to installthem on his property. Shesaid if the ordinance isrevised, there is a chance theborough building would usethese turbines as well forlighting the parking lot. Shesaid many of the lights willnot turn on at night due to thedeterioration of wiring run-

ning underneath the pave-ment over the years.

Burke said since these windturbines are much smallerand less noisy, there would beless concern from neighborsand members of the commu-nity. He said when wind tur-bines were much larger,there was always worry aboutthem falling over and damag-ing property.

Not only are these particu-lar wind turbines muchsmaller, they start producingenergy during winds as lowas 4.5 mph and the helixblade configuration efficient-ly captures wind from anydirection. Kaithern said itwould be nice to be moreenergy efficient in West CapeMay.

She said the Planning Boardsub–committee will lookinginto these wind turbines moredeeply and would give theBoard of Commissioners rec-ommendations as they per-tain to changing the ordi-nance.

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Permit Extension Act is clear– the Franks’ first demolitionpermit was not extended, andthe City was not preventedfrom arguing that it hadexpired just because the Citysolicitor initially concluded ithad not. In short, the Cityagreed to settle a trivial law-suit by giving the Frankseverything they asked for,and the public should be toldwhy the Council deliberatelychose to lose a winnablecase.”

Jackson continued, “It’sclear to us the Franksbrought their suit becausetheir case in the ZBA wasfoundering against theweight of scholarshipupholding the provenance ofthe 1950s era Theatre. So, wewere shocked at how theCouncil could have ignoredthe overwhelming recordcompiled in the ZBA hear-ings and input to the Councilitself, that included scores ofexperts, witnesses, and citi-zens and mounds of docu-mentary evidence showingthe Theatre merited the rec-ommendation of the twonoted boards. Instead ofaligning itself with preserva-tion and community valueson which the tourism andeconomic lifeblood of theCity depends, the Councilserved a home run pitch tothe Franks, aligning itselfwith those responsible for thederelict state of the Theatre.”

Jackson concluded, “Wehope to pursue our action sothat the historic nature of theTheatre is recognized. Weunderstand that, as owners,the Franks have the right todo what they’d like with theirproperty. Our purpose hasnever been to stop that, butthe law requires them to tryto market it at a fair pricefirst – hopefully to someoneinterested in preserving it –before they just knock itdown.”

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tory and $9 million fortourism.

“It’s unheard of in any otherstate in the union that wecommit a tax to support anindustry as large as theindustry we have here forboth culture, arts, history andtourism,” Guadagno said.

She said the state has a newcampaign called “That’s NewJersey” which markets south-ern New Jersey as a touristdestination for visitors fromPennsylvania, New York andas far away as Canada.

Guadagno said Christie hasgarnered attention nation-wide for his direct manner inhandling New Jersey’s budg-

et and public sector employ-ees. She said the focus onChristie combats negativestereotypes and media por-trayals the state long sufferedin the past.

“People are talking aboutsomething other than Snookiand they’re talking aboutsomething other than TheSopranos,” Guadagno said.

Guadagno said for the firsttime in five years, NewJersey opened two interna-tional offices, in Shanghaiand London to promote thestate. She said overseas tradeincreased to the state by 18percent over the last 16months.

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(ISSN 519-020), Volume 157 Number 19.Published weekly by Sample Media, Inc., 112 E. 8thSt., Ocean City, N.J. 08226. Subscription price inCape May County $22; East of the Mississippi $25;West of the Mississippi $29. Periodicals Postage atPleasantville, N.J. and additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to theCape May Star and Wave, 600 Park Ave., #28, WestCape May, N.J. 08204.

157 Years Old1854-2011

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A2 WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2011