OCEAN CITY – The number of visitors to Ocean City this past Memorial Day weekend were record breaking, creating a brighter outlook for the resort area over the months ahead.
According to Communications Manager Donna Abbott, this year’s demoflush population calculations for the holiday weekend saw an estimated 281,895 people, which is well over last year’s estimate for Memorial Day weekend, which was set at 254,717.
“I have demoflush figures back to 1992 and I could not find a higher demoflush estimate for Memorial weekend then what we just had this past weekend,” Abbott said.
Amy Tingle, event manager with the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA), said from what she has heard from the association’s members a lot of them were up significantly over last year’s Memorial Day weekend’s numbers.
“The weather certainly helped with that, but we actually had quite a good crowd in town and from what I heard everybody was pretty happy,” Tingle said.
Tingle said that there were 38 families that came through the Visitor Center on Saturday seeking accommodations, and OCHMRA was able to place them. However, she reported about 75 percent of the hotels, motels and apartments in the OCHMRA’s membership were full over the weekend.
Most encouraging to Tingle was the early reservations reported, reversing a recent trend where people wait till the last minute to observe weather patterns and scope out the best deals.
“We did see a trend in people booking ahead of time which really hasn’t been the case,” Tingle said. “In the past couple of years, it’s been a lot of last-minute bookings, but I know that several of our properties filled up well before the weekend so we have seen a change in that trend and we hope to continue that trend.”
“This is a great indicator on how the summer season is going to go,” Tingle said. “If we continue to see good weather and we continue to offer great deals and a lot of free family fun events … I think we will have the same weekends.”
Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and Chair of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) Melanie Pursel said she has heard nothing but wonderful reports from the members of the chamber.
“There was a really good clientele, the weather was perfect, and everyone just did very well,” Pursel said.
Pursel said that the high number of visitors to Ocean City this past Memorial Day weekend says a lot about what Ocean City has to offer in light of high gas prices or the economy.
“The people want to be here,” she said. “We have a lot to offer them and I think we do a good job in terms of taking care of the visitors since there is so much to do for everybody. It is very nice to know that when people make decisions on what to do for Memorial Day weekend that they’re coming to Ocean City and I think a lot of that has to do with how hard Ocean City has worked to be a great destination.”
She added that people are hearing more about Ocean City these days, especially since the launch of the new “OC Free for All” website, which was created to list all the free events and activities that Ocean City has to offer.
“There has been a lot of buzz about Ocean City and over the last few years we have been pushing free, free, free and I think it has really caught up to people that have come to town,” Pursel said.
After checking in with the Director of Tourism Deb Turk, Pursel said the Chamber of Commerce was able to find a couple of rooms for those who didn’t have accommodations but besides that, “they called all over town and there was nothing available, it was completely booked up.”
Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said the department had a busy weekend but the behavior in town was “just another typical Memorial Day weekend.”
“It is my understanding it was a successful weekend for all of the businesses and I can tell you that we were very busy in the police department,” she said.
DiPino did report there were a number of crashes that occurred over the weekend, including a car that had flipped over on 33rd Street and a scooter accident where the driver and passenger were flown out to receive medical attention. It is the chief’s understanding that that all people involved in those accidents are in stable condition.
Memorial Day Crowds*
2011: 281,895
2010: 254,717
2009: 270,421
2008: 226,748
2007: 259,823
2006: 239,789
2005: 216,371
2004: 242,286
2003: 197,725
2002: 237,791
2001: 216,038
2000: 242,730
1999: 248,446
1998: 234,961
1997: 204,972
*Demoflush figures courtesy of Ocean City Tourism