CAPE MAY COUNTY INTERVIEW
Optimistic With better-than-expected tourism numbers and investment in economic diversity, the future looks bright
Gerald Thornton Commissioner Director – Cape May County
Where does tourism activity stand after the pandemic? We’re going to be promoting our tourism businesses, and we are glad to be able to get them fully open. We average about 10.2 million visitors a year in Cape May County, so it’s important that we have all of our buildings, facilities and services open. That said, we will follow the medical protocols that are required. We’ve been working with the Chamber of Commerce and businesses have supported us by following the medical protocols so that everyone feels safe. Still, we can’t afford to have another closed season. Overall, however, we had anticipated that about 30% of our businesses would be reduced or go out of business but, fortunately, it hasn’t been too bad. We recovered somewhat toward the end of last summer. In total, the sector was down under 20%, which was better than our anticipated 30%. What other industries are significant for the county? Our second major industry, which most people don’t realize, is fishing. We are the second-busiest fishing port on the East Coast. We even have a fishing loan program. I think we’re the only county in the state that still has that program and it’s very viable. We also are making major investments in economic development. We’re investing in the airport’s industrial park, refurbishing the roads in that park. Through another program, we bought the old shopping center in Rio Grande and we’re investing about $25 million to refurbish that and bring it up to date. That should generate about 100 full-time jobs and about 50 parttime jobs. How has residential activity developed in the county? It’s interesting. One thing people should understand is that 48% of the homes in Cape May County are second homes. One thing that people love is that we
have a strong open-space program to maintain the environment and atmosphere of the county. We’re very supportive of our farmers and the farming community, which makes it a rural county with a lot of the amenities of a tourism economy. What are the prospects for employee-related travel post-pandemic? The world has significantly changed because of Zoom. It’s very obvious to me that our county personnel will not have to travel a long way to go to a meeting. You can have a Zoom meeting that is very productive. You don’t have to travel to Trenton, which is two hours up and two hours back. Unless it’s a significant conference that you need to attend for some reason, that kind of travel is going to be curtailed. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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