The damage Hurricane Sandy brought to the Jersey Shore has been well documented, with scenes of devastation played out in newspapers and on television around the world.
The storm set in motion a frantic, six-month race to rebuild the Shore in time for Memorial Day, but it also launched an effort among the region’s competitors to attract regular visitors who’ve grown wary there’s no beach to return to here. And while New Jersey is spending $25 million in federal dollars on an advertising campaign to convince regular visitors to return, tourism agencies in other states also are boosting their advertising.
Scott Thomas, executive director of Southern Delaware Tourism, said his agency wants to be respectful of the Jersey Shore, but also wants to reach those vacationers who are considering new summer destinations.
“It could have easily been us — we know that,” he said. “As a result, regardless of where a storm of that magnitude hits, anyone that wasn’t as impacted, they’re going to certainly reference the fact that we were spared, our beaches are ready.”
Thomas said the storm made his agency reassess its marketing to its “drive-from” markets, which include Pennsylvania, parts of Ohio, and New Jersey. He said it’s too soon to know what impact the storm will have on their success this summer, but the inquiries so far seem promising.
“I think there’s the potential to see more first-time visitors here to the Delaware beaches versus the Jersey Shore,” he said, “because I think there might be more of an incentive to explore.”
Diane Wieland, director of tourism for Cape May County, said she was at a meeting with Southern Delaware Tourism officials discussing ways to co-promote their regions when she heard about the direction of her counterparts’ marketing campaign.
“They were kind of hinting at their campaign being that they weren’t touched,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, we’re in the room here.’ “
Wieland said she doesn’t blame them, saying she’d do the same thing if the roles were reversed. Both entities are going forward with the co-promotion, encouraging visitors to use the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and visit both states.
Losing visitors to other states would be painful for New Jersey’s tourism industry, which brought in a record $40 billion last year. Gov. Chris Christie made his best sales pitch last week at a boardwalk reopening ceremony in Belmar, one of several pre-Memorial Day events he attended.
“The biggest reason that I want to come and open these boardwalks is because I want New Jersey — and the region and the country — to know that New Jersey has come back,” he said, “that the summer will happen here in New Jersey and you need to bring your families here.”
