THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512160285
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The threat of Hurricane Felix, or rather ``the hurricane that never was,'' caused a drop in summer visits to the resort area, according to a study of Virginia Beach's summer visitor population released Friday.
About 20,000 fewer people visited the beach in August because of the offshore storm, reported the Bureau of Research at Old Dominion University's College of Business and Public Administration.
That's just over a 2 percent drop from 1994's 997,592 tourist population. Out-of-town visitors fell to 977,592 in 1995.
These figures, however, only address hotel and motel lodging. They do not include visitors to the campgrounds and overnight visitors that stayed with family and friends, said James B. Ricketts, director of the Virginia Beach Department of Convention and Visitors Development.
Despite the decline in visitors, overall tourist spending rose this summer, according to preliminary reports, said Gilbert Yochum, head of the economics department at ODU, who spearheaded the visitor profile report. He declined to release visitor expenditure figures pending a final report of tourist spending in 1995.
The decline in Canadian visitors to the beach in 1994 continued this summer, too. About 34,000 fewer Canadians visited Virginia Beach in the past two years, Yochum said.
The fall in the exchange value of the Canadian dollar contributed to the decline of Canadian tourists in 1993 and 1994, but city tourism officials are otherwise unable to explain this latest trend.
Beach tourism officials do recognize that visitors to the city now are older, wealthier and more family-oriented than in the past, Ricketts said.
Typical visitors' ages range from 35 to 44. They live within 150 to 300 miles of the beach and are more likely Virginians. They also, typically, have two children. ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTO
GRAPHIC BY ROBERT VOROS
The Virginian-Pilot
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: TOURISM by CNB