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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Hotel Occupancy Was Flat for Most of March, Part of April

If spring break was any indication of how tourism will go this summer, it’s off to a rather ho-hum start.

For the 28 days ended April 5, which pretty well covered the period when out-of-town colleges in California, Arizona and Colorado let out, hotel lobbies saw no more activity than they did during the same time frame last year.

According to the most recent report from Smith Travel Research, which keeps tabs on the nation’s lodging industry, occupancy was up 0.6 percent, or flat, to 75.8 percent compared to the same year-ago period.

Maybe the party animals shied away after reading City Attorney Michael Aguirre’s not so welcoming letter sent to universities outside the county and state before spring break warning of the newly enacted beach booze ban.

Nonetheless, average daily room rates were up by 6.4 percent to $139.79 and innkeepers raked in 7 percent more money from the rooms that were let nightly , $105.94 versus $98.98.

Things improved during the seven days ended on April 5, however.

Occupancy was up 4.9 percent to 74.4 percent compared to the like year-ago week, while the average daily rate was up 19.7 percent to $144.60 and the money taken in from the rooms that were let daily jumped 25.5 percent to $107.62.

Surprisingly, Norfolk, Va., beat out Miami as the most popular destination during the 28 days. Miami was second and Orlando, Fla. came in third. San Diego was in fifth place among the top 25 destinations that Smith Travel tracks through surveys of hotels with 20 rooms or more.

Smith Travel does not report statistics for Las Vegas, as its casino hotels don’t participate in the researcher’s surveys on occupancy and rate.

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Rock ‘N’ Roll:

The San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon , in its 10th year last year in June , generated $48 million for San Diego’s economy, according to an economic impact study recently completed by George Washington University.

The study noted that 43,000 participants and spectators traveled to the county for race related events. Expenditures on food, lodging, entertainment, local transportation and retail purchased also produced more than $3.3 million in tax revenue for the state and local governments.


Send tourism and hospitality news to Connie Lewis via e-mail:

clewis@sdbj.com

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