
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300090
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

BEACH SEASON OFF TO SLOW START

The holiday weekend rains washed away any hopes of a bright start to the 1990 tourist season for many resort city merchants.

"I opened at 8 o'clock [Sunday] and it rained all morning. I didn't have a customer until noon," said Beth Tetterton, manager of Raging Rags on the city's resort strip.

"Last year, it was 90 degrees and sunny, so it makes a difference," she said.

Occupancy rates on the resort strip were running about 75 percent on Friday. At the Radisson Hotel at the Pavilion, 90 percent of the rooms were filled Saturday, said Mike Gelardi, president of the Virginia Hotel Corp.

Business was off by 30 percent Sunday, he said.

- Associated Press

by CNB