Beach bucks recession

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL — Kevin Walsh, president of Gulf World Marine Park on Front Beach Road, said tourists will keep coming to the beach, even during lean times, if only to escape for a while.
   
For a tourism-based economy such as Panama City Beach’s, that is good news.
   
Walsh said attendance at his park remained steady this year despite the national economic slowdown, although spending by his customers was off slightly.
   
“I don’t consider this a bad year at all,” he said.
   
With the summer tourism season coming to an end, businesses are taking stock of the year so far and looking toward the fall. The theme mentioned by Walsh — tourists coming in substantial numbers but spending less — is repeated in conversations with other business owners.
   
Beach businessman Jack Bishop, who owns several Panama City Beach eateries, said his buffet restaurants, such as Bishop’s Family Buffet and Capt. Jack’s Seafood Buffet, did well this summer. Business at his more upscale restaurants, such as Breakers, was down.
   
“I have a pretty broad spectrum of places,” Bishop said. “Both my buffets did well, but Breakers and Harpoon Harry’s are off this year.”
   
Dan Rowe, executive director of the Bay County Tourist Development Council, said bed tax receipts were down 4.5 percent in June compared to last year, but receipts for the year overall were up 1.6 percent, or $4,158,268 from January through June compared to $4,091,591 for the same period in 2008.
   
For conformity, the numbers represent 2008 and 2009 comparisons of the 3 percent bed tax rate, although the county commission voted to raise the bed tax to 5 percent earlier this year.
   
Through June, total lodging revenue for 2009 was up by more than $2 million, or $138,608,931 compared to $136,386,366 in 2008. Lodging revenue was done slightly for the month of June, but “in July, we did OK,” he said.
   
Rowe said the rate of tourism growth has been slower in Bay County this year, but the area is still doing better than nearby destinations.
   
“All in all, we are doing better than most,” he said. “But as good as we are doing, it’s still been a tough year.”
   
At Sharky’s Restaurant & Tiki Bar, manager Brian Hammerle said his business might have been bucking the trend, with business up by 20 percent this year over last year, the best his business has done since 1987 when the restaurant opened.
   
“I think Pier Park has been pulling people from the east end of the beach,” he said, with the spillover coming his way. The new 1,500-foot Russell-Fields Pier opened on July 4 just south of Pier Park’s large group of retail businesses and has drown large crowds.
   
Along with Bishop, Buddy Wilkes of Shipwreck Island Waterpark said he also thought visitors were spending less. “When they come here, they have to have a place to stay and they have to eat, but I’m more discretionary income,” he said, noting that his business was off by about 12 percent from last year.
   
At Gulf World, Walsh said spending in the gift shop or at the snack bar has been down about 4.5 percent this summer season compared to last year. Spending last year was up about 4.5 percent over summer 2007, he said.
   
Gulf World usually averages about 150,000 to 175,000 customers during the year, with the peak attendance coming between May and the last week August, Walsh said. “We’ve had as many people as in the past, but I think people are just spending a little bit less than in the past,” he said.
   
Although the recent economic downturn has made visitors a little more frugal with their spending habits, tourists still want something to do, such as Gulf World, when they leave the beautiful water and sand, he said.
   
“People are tightening their belts just a little bit. But this week was the first week when our crowds really starting dropping off,” Walsh said.
   
Wilkes said his business, which counts heavily on about 86 days in June, July and early August, was hurt this summer when schools opened sooner in Alabama and Georgia. In addition, some crucial weekends were ruined by heavy rains.
   
At Gulf World, which employs about 75 people during the peak tourism months and about 35 to 40 people during the off season, Walsh said he is now turning his attention to the fall and the tourists he affectionately refers to as “DINKS,” or dual income couples with no kids.
   
“All the kids are going back to school,” he said. “Now we just hope for the long weekends.”
   
Hammerle said Sharky’s enjoys its biggest business during Spring Break and then in July. Now, at the end of August, he said he was looking forward to Labor Day and the Thunder Beach motorcycle enthusiasts.