OCEAN CITY – The month of May saw mostly increases across the board in metrics representing Ocean City tourism while the month of June reflected an array of decreases.
During this week’s Tourism Commission meeting, Tourism and Marketing Director Donna Abbott presented Ocean City’s Tourism Metric for the month of May and June.
The average high in May was 72 degrees and average low was 54 degrees with a precipitation measurement of 3.03 inches. Compared to 2013, the average high was 69 degrees and the average low was 54 degrees, with a precipitation measurement of 3.07 inches.
In May, the amount of room tax collected was $1,137,154 compared to 2013 when $1,082,992 was collected, which is an increase of 5 percent. This year $121,101 was collected in food tax compared to $112,696 in 2013, which is a 7.45-percent increase.
The amount of sales tax collected was $3,679,788 compared to 2013 when $3,394,355 was collected, which is an 8.4-percent increase, and in May $80,029 was collected in admission and amusement tax, compared to $81,520 in 2013, which is a decrease of 1.8 percent.
Lodging data collected from Smith Travel Research reflected May’s occupancy was 59.7-percent compared to 54.8-percent last year. The Average Daily Rate (ADR), which is a measure of the average rate paid for rooms sold, calculated by dividing room revenue by rooms sold, was $126.32 this year compared to $123.74 last year, which is a 2.1-percent increase. Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), which is the total guest room revenue divided by the total number of available rooms, was $75.37 this year compared to $67.80 last year, which is an 11.2-percent increase from the past year.
Web Marketing Results showed a 6.2-percent decrease in users of the town’s website, OCocean.com.
Approximately 77,000 prospective visitors received Ocean City’s Department of Tourism e-newsletters in May. The number of subscribers grew 7 percent compared to May of last year.
In May, there were 2,376 print advertising requests of travel information for Ocean City compared to 3,966 last year, which is a 40.1-percent decrease. There were 1,447 Visitor Guide requests through the town’s website compared to 3,072 last year, which is a 52.8-percent decrease, and the top zip codes requesting Visitor Guides in May were from Pennsylvania and Maryland. There were 2,109 phone calls made to 1-800-OC-OCEAN compared to 2,418 last year, which is a 12.8-percent decrease.
Springfest 2014 was held at the Inlet Lot from Thursday, May 1, through Sunday, May 4, with 102,221 in attendance, which is a 5-percent increase over the 2013 attendance of 97,021.
In May of this year, there were 53,955 golf rounds booked, a 10-percent increase over last May.
Transportation reported bus ridership in May at about 258,346 compared to last year with about 237,543 which is an 8.76-percent increase. There was $301,922 collected in bus revenue compared to $232,505 last year, which is a 29.86-percent increase.
The Inlet Parking Lot collected $137,423 this year compared to $102,916 last year, which is an increase of 33.53-percent.
According to Public Works, about 3,179 tons of solid waste was collected in May, compared to 3,262 last year that is a 3-percent decrease. However, there were 153,190,000 in water pumpage compared to 148,600,000 last year, which is a 3-percent increase.
Demoflush is an estimation of population in Ocean City based on wastewater flow, and the weekend average in May was 177,055 compared to last year when it was 166,852, which is an increase of 6.11-percent. The weekday average this year was 153,492 compared to last year when it was 115,821, which is an increase of 32.5-percent. This year the daily average was 142,628 compared to last year’s 128,991, which is a 10.6-percent decrease.
The final category, calls for service, reflected 9,065 police calls for service compared to 8.856 last year, which is a 2.35-percent increase. There were also 512 fire calls for service compared to 558 last year, which is an 8-percent decrease.
The average high in June was 79.5 degrees and an average low of 62.5 degrees with precipitation of 1.33 inches. In 2013, the average high was 84 degrees and an average low of 55 degrees, and precipitation was marked at 6.21 inches.
The amount of room tax collected was $2,545,785 in June compared to 2013 when about $2,606,936 was collected, which is a decrease of 2.3 percent. This year $184,630 was collected in food tax compared to about $174,994 in 2013, which is a 5.5-percent increase. The State of Maryland has not reported the month of June’s sales tax as of Monday, but there was $174,897 collected in admission and amusement tax this year compared to $148,547 last year, which is a 2.4-percent increase.
Lodging data reflected June’s occupancy was 72.5 percent compared to 68.7 percent last year, which is 5.6-percent increase. The ADR was $175.86 this year compared to $178.38 last year, which is a 1.4-percent decrease. RevPAR was $127.58 this year compared to $122.52 last year, which is a 4.1-percent increase from the past year.
Web Marketing Results showed 8.8-percent decrease in users of the town’s website, OCocean.com.
Approximately 76,000 prospective visitors received Ocean City’s Department of Tourism e-newsletters in June. The number of subscribers grew 7 percent compared to June of last year.
In June, there were 1,108 print advertising requests of travel information for Ocean City compared to 2,044, which is a 46-percent decrease. There were 2,022 Visitor Guide requests through the town’s website compared to 2,709 last year, which is a 25-percent decrease, and the top zip codes requesting Visitor Guides in June were also from Pennsylvania and Maryland. However, there were 3,332 phone calls made to 1-800-OC-OCEAN compared to 2,562 last year, which is a 30-percent increase.
The Dew Tour was held June 25-29 and attendance was estimated at 105,000, which is up 1.9-percent from 2013.
In June, there were 43,689 golf rounds booked compared to 42,467 last year, which is a 3-percent increase.
Transportation reported bus ridership in June at 707,296 compared to last year with 736,708, which is a 3.99-percent decrease. However, there was $736,680 collected in bus revenue compared to $634,648 last year, which is a 16-percent increase but there was 148 bus permits issued compared to 160 last year, which is a 7.5-percent decrease. The Inlet Parking Lot collected $437,082 this year compared to $445,655 last year, which is a decrease of 1.92 percent.
Public Works reported a decrease in solid waste collection in June with over 2,206 tons of solid waste collected compared to 4,229 last year. Additionally, there was a decrease in water usage with 209,990,000 compared to 214,890,000 last year.
In June, the Demoflush weekend average was 214,003 compared to 225,784 this year, which is a decrease of 5.21 percent. The weekday average was 183,892 this year compared to 197,704 last year, which is a decrease of almost 7.1 percent. This year the daily average was 196,225 compared to 207,065 last year, which is a 5.2-percent decrease.
Calls for service reflected 16,191 police calls compared to 16,300 last year, which is a .6-percent decrease. There were also 856 fire calls for service compared to 909 last year, which is a 6.9-percent decrease.