Friends of Asbury Park:
In light of recent posts on tourism, I am posting for a third time
something I initially wrote on my blog in JANUARY 2006, then reposted
(as you will see below) in JULY 2007.
It would be helpful if more of you would come to City Council
meetings and express the opinions that you have about this matter to
the COUNCIL MAJORITY.
Peace, Councilman Jim Keady
Friends of Asbury Park:
In the past day or so a number of people have been posting to one of
the local listserves here in Asbury Park about tourism and our City.
In light of what has been written, and also in light of the new life
Madison Marquette has brought to our waterfront, I thought I would
repost a portion of "The Keady Report" from January 2006 that speaks
to this topic. I offer it to keep alive the current conversation
about refocusing our efforts to establish Asbury Park as THE premier
tourist destination on the Jersey Shore. As you read, I ask you to
take particular note of the statistic about accommodations. Asbury
Park will need hotels and guest houses to capture these tourist
dollars. A bedroom condo community will not serve this purpose.
______________________________________________________________
Re-focusing on Tourism
In preparations for the January 27th meeting with Asbury Partners I
did some cursory research on tourism in New Jersey. I undertook this
research because in my gut I just did not believe the argument that
Asbury Partners and our own Redevelopment Attorney, Jim Aaron, were
making that "retail redevelopment must always be preceded by
significant residential development for it to be successful." This
was one of the defenses for Asbury Partners lack of action on the
boardwalk properties. They were basically saying that there needed to
be more people living near the boardwalk to make the properties
commercially viable. I did not buy it when they first said it and now
that I have some numbers to back up my gut feeling, I am quite
confident in my position.
The simple fact is that we have one mile of beautiful beaches and
that if we create a safe, attractive boardwalk, there will be more
than enough tourism to support the investments made to redevelop the
Pavilions, Conventional Hall, the Paramount Theater and the Casino
Complex.
To support my case, here are some facts from the NJ Commerce,
Economic Growth and Tourism Commission.
* The economic impact of the Travel and Tourism Industry in New
Jersey contributes $30 billion dollars in economic activity each year
and creates 416,000 jobs.
* In 2003, 65 million people visited New Jersey and tourism generated
$2.9 billion in state and local government revenues.
* Of the dollars spent on tourism in New Jersey, accommodations
account for the largest share (37%), followed by food (26%), shopping
(16%), transportation (10%) and entertainment (7%).
* Nowhere is the impact of the Travel and Tourism industry more
evident than at the JERSEY SHORE. The four counties that make up the
Shore (Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth and Ocean) account for more than
72% or $21.6 billion in annual economic activity.
Could you imagine if Asbury Park were able to garner just 5% of the
travel and tourism industry in NJ? That would be an influx of
$1,500,000,000 into our local economy. This is why we need to
seriously reconsider the focus of our efforts on the oceanfront and
maximize our beaches, our brand name and our music history to create
a first class tourist destination.
________________________________________________________________
I look forward to reading your comments and I hope this finds you
well.
Peace,
James W. Keady, Councilman
City of Asbury Park, NJ
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