Tough year: The struggles of the past year are well known but signs of a rebound are emerging

Tough year:

The struggles of the past year are well known but signs of a rebound are emerging

In the run-up to the pandemic, South Jersey had a stellar reputation as a tourist destination, especially for those looking to escape the hustle and bustle of New York City or Philadelphia. The iconic Jersey Shore, traversing Middlesex, Monmouth, Atlantic and Cape May counties is famed for its boardwalks, arcades, amusement parks and water parks. In Cape May County, tourism employment was the backbone of several industries, accounting for 100% of lodging employment, 44% of recreation and 32% of the food and beverage industry. The county experienced a record 2019, with direct tourism spending of $6.9 billion, while rentals generated $2.2 billion and $565.4 million in state and local taxes, respectively.

There is no doubt that 2020 was a tough year for South Jersey’s tourism industry but signs of a rebound are starting to emerge as COVID restrictions ease and vaccinations continue. In fact, the only thing holding the sector back from explosive growth in the summer of 2021 is the struggle to find labor.

“There are help wanted signs everywhere. The one thing that we are trying to tell people right now is that the boardwalk, amusement, shops and restaurants are not staffed up to 100 percent of their pre-pandemic levels. We are asking people to come down here on vacation to enjoy themselves but to be patient because there is a labor issue. We are seeing the same phenomenon at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Our operations staffing is being challenged by other businesses offering a really high hourly wage. We want to be back to normal but we are not right now because of some of our labor shortages. We think it’s going to take the rest of 2021 and then into 2022 before we see a lot more normalcy,” John Siciliano, executive director and CFO of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority, told Invest:.

In his FY2022 budget, Gov. Murphy allocated $25 million in federal funds to travel and tourism advertising and promotion in the wake of the pandemic.

Performance According to Visit NJ, in 2019, 116 million visitors spent $46.4 billion in the state, a 3.8% year-over-year increase. Around 9,000 jobs were supported by the tourism sector and about $5.1 billion in state and local taxes were generated.The vast majority of New Jersey ( )