Summer Tourism Highlighted At County Press Conference

MONMOUTH COUNTY – The Board of Commissioners welcomed the summer tourism season at a press conference with their tourism partners on May 23 at the North End Pavilion.

“Summer 2022 was incredibly successful, with more than $29 million reported in beach revenue in Monmouth County,” said Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone, liaison to the Division of Tourism. “2022 beach revenue saw a 5% increase over 2021 beach revenue at roughly $27.5 million.”

Director Arnone also reported that 2022 visitor spending increased from $2.3 million in 2021 to $2.8 million in 2022 – a 19.6% increase. The 2022 number is a 5.8% increase to the 2019 number of $2.6 million.

The tourism industry supported nearly 23,000 jobs in 2022, up from 17,000 in 2021. Food and beverage revenue increased to $816 million in 2022 from $682 million in 2021.

“May gets me thinking about the long summer to come such as hanging out at the beach and outdoor dining,” said Spring Lake Mayor Jennifer Naughton. “This is the magic of these small towns along the beach. They all have their own personalities and offerings to residents and visitors alike.”

“I want to thank the Monmouth County Division of Tourism for the donations you have made to our festivals,” said Ellen Manger, Executive Director of the Greater Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce.

“Our Chamber is a collaborative effort among Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, Lake Como and Sea Girt. We let people know we have everything they would want here. This is a wonderful place and I tell everyone who comes here, ‘You will be back.’”

“It is really important for us to make sure our businesses thrive,” said Dawn McDonough, Executive Director of the Spring Lake Business Improvement District. “We have so many great stores. Please come to our downtown and shop in our stores. We love them.”

This year the County held the inaugural Travel Guide cover photo contest and would like to congratulate Bill McKim of Belmar, who received the most votes in the contest, with his incredible photo of the Belmar Fishing Pier in Belmar which serves as the cover of the Travel Guide.

“I am proud to announce that this contest had so much success, we are bringing it back for 2024! Submissions will be accepted from now until October 15 so get those cameras out all summer long and you may see your photo on the cover of next year’s Travel Guide!” said Director Arnone. “Full details are available at tourism.visitmonmouth.com.”

“The 2023 Monmouth County Travel Guide has tons of activities, resources and programs to make any trip to Monmouth County a great one,” said Director Arnone. “Join us for a day trip, stay for an overnight or vacation for the week, there will be events and activities all summer long and our Travel Guide will be your map to a great summer in Monmouth County.”

Director Arnone also discussed ways the Division of Tourism will be involved with local Chambers of Commerce and other local events this summer.

“Monmouth County Division of Tourism has been sponsoring and supporting Monmouth County Chambers of Commerce and local events through the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) grant the Division received for 2023,” said Director Arnone. “We will be at more events than ever this year and we can’t wait to see everyone supporting our local towns and businesses.”

The Monmouth County Division of Tourism will also be offering new programs and resources for the summer season.

One program is the Monmouth County Beach Public Safety dashboard. This dashboard provides a free public safety tool to residents and visitors with up-to-the-minute details about aquatic risks, wave height, water temperature, UV index, surf reports and more. This dashboard is 100% free to the public, and accessible from any device at MonmouthCountyBeaches.com.

Another program is the Brewed & Distilled in Monmouth program. This program assists in the promotion of Monmouth County’s wineries, distilleries and breweries.

The County created a website that houses all the locations of Monmouth County’s craft beverage businesses with a direct link to the businesses’ website and social media pages for Brewed & Distilled, where we share content from our partners that include events, new product releases and specials. For more information about this program, visit brewedanddistilledinmonmouth.com.

For more information about Monmouth County happenings, go to tourism.visitmonmouth.com and follow Monmouth County Tourism on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.