So-So Summer: O.C. Tourism Suffers Blahs

Hope springs eternal for the tourism industry. So its not surprising that boosters of the Southern California leisure business sound like Tommy Lasorda these days.

But just as the Dodgers have been taking a drubbing, the tourism business has been a disappointment for much of the summer. And just as Lasorda maintains that his team can still come back, local hoteliers, merchants and attraction operators are optimistic that they can overcome a slow start and finish even with last year.

Two months into the busy summer season, many Orange County hoteliers are struggling to fill rooms; occupancy rates are flat compared to a year ago. Lifeguards and some tour bus operators say there are fewer sun worshipers and sightseers than last summer.

Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm also have been facing a so-so summer--at least until very recently, according to amusement industry experts.

The Anaheim Visitor and Convention Bureau, which tracks tourism in the county, expects Orange County to lure about 12 million visitors from June through Labor Day--roughly the same number who came here to play in 1987 and 1988. Summer accounts for almost one-third of the tourist population for the entire year.

Delayed Opening of Ride Had an Effect

Last year, Orange County drew a total of 34.8 million tourists. Bill Snyder, convention bureau president, hopes that number will be matched or slightly surpassed in 1989. But at the same time, the Anaheim bureau is spending 5% to 10% more to promote Orange County’s amusement parks, malls and sunny beaches.

“Obviously, when you get to certain levels, there aren’t going to be big leaps over the previous year,” Snyder said.

One big reason for the lackluster season this year is that Disneyland threw everyone a curve. By delaying the opening of Splash Mountain--the park’s long-awaited new ride--by at least six months until mid-July, Disneyland caused local tourism to take a spin. (Disneyland postponed opening the ride while technical glitches and design flaws were corrected.)

That is because as Disneyland goes, so goes the rest of Orange County’s leisure industry--hotels, motels, restaurants, transportation firms and other tourist spots.

To be sure, local observers say that now that Splash Mountain is giving riders thrills, business for tourism-related operations already is perking up.

“It’s very early, but you can feel it already,” said William Torresala, general manager of the Pan Pacific of Anaheim (formerly the Emerald Hotel), which is located within walking distance of Disneyland. “No question about it--a major attraction will raise (room) occupancy” rates.

So even though the Pan Pacific is experiencing “a good summer”--room occupancy is about eight percentage points ahead of last year--Torresala believes that business could be even better if Disneyland were now promoting Splash Mountain as heavily as it was several months before the attraction opened.

In addition to delays in opening Splash Mountain, several key reasons have been repeatedly cited as to why a bang-up season isn’t in the making:

- Cool, overcast weather along the coastline discouraged tourists from flocking to the beaches early in the summer.

“It never got warm--that put a damper on things until the end of July,” said Bill Hamilton, owner of the Cannery Restaurant in Newport Beach, which relies on tourism trade to keep up its harbor cruise business.

At Newport Beach, attendance numbers were up in June but then dropped almost 3% in July, to just over 2 million for the month, according to the Marine Safety Department there.

- Concern about the economy has made some more hesitant about making long-range plans and kept others from spending freely.

Roberts Holiday Lines, a Santa Ana-based group charter bus company, is getting fewer big orders from large conventions as more and more corporations are keeping tighter reins on their budgets, said Jim Hamming, sales and marketing director.

Whirl-A-Round Tours of Newport Beach is busy, said owner Barbara Sloate, “but now people are putting things together on three weeks’ notice” instead of planning incentive trips or business meetings six months ahead. “People are unsure about the economy, and they’re waiting until the last minute to decide if they want to spend the money to have a meeting,” she said.

At the same time, uncertainty about a tightening of the economy apparently has made other travelers more hesitant about digging into their wallets to shop--usually one of the favorite activities of vacationers.

Axline Shoes, located off Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, has a sizable number of tourists as clients, according to owner Jack Hansen. This summer, Hansen has found that he is selling more shoes, but the amount of the average purchase is down, with customers buying slightly less costly merchandise than last year. “I think there’s a direct correlation to the economy,” he said.

- Knott’s Berry Farm did not introduce a major new ride this year. While the theme park did bring in two minor rides and a water and laser show, none is the sort of glitzy attraction that is a reason for patrons to make a special trip to Knott’s--as they did in droves last year when the park opened the Bigfoot Rapids ride.

The result, industry experts said, is that Knott’s is seeing a drop in attendance this summer.

Knott’s spokesman Stuart Zanville declines comment other than to say that Knott’s summer attendance is “consistent with what we expected” for an off-year when there is no major new ride. “For some reason, domestic tourism has taken longer to come around in past years . . . but it seems to have picked up two weeks ago,” Zanville added.

Similarly, attendance at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia is “in a holding pattern” with last year, a spokeswoman there said. San Diego Sea World also saw summer business start off down 2% to 3% in June and then rebound in July--thanks in part to widespread discounts and other promotions.

At Disneyland, park spokesman Bob Roth declined to give attendance numbers but said Splash Mountain already has brought more patrons through the park’s turnstiles. Others in the industry say Disneyland was having a flat year until customers began lining up to splash down the new megaride.

But not everyone struck out.

Universal Studios Hollywood is enjoying a banner summer, with attendance almost 25% ahead of last year. The studio tour, in Universal City, gives all the credit to its new Earthquake ride, a multimillion-dollar extravaganza that was unleashed in March.

With the tourist industry’s busiest month of the year just starting, Laguna Beach these days is packed. “As usual, you can’t move through the city,” said Cheryl Ryan, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, who acknowledges that it’s hard to tell if summer tourism overall is up or down.

And some Orange County hotels--including the Doubletree in Anaheim, the Sheraton Newport and the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club--report modest to good gains in room occupancy for the season.

But no records are being set at the Anaheim Marriott, the Disneyland Hotel or the Hyatt Newporter--all of which are seeing about the same number of patrons as last year.

And Doryman’s Inn Bed & Breakfast, a 10-room, luxury hotel on the oceanfront in Newport Beach, had “the worst June in the last two years, but the best July ever,” said Michael Sorrell, general manager, who adds that room occupancy for this year is down from 1988.

“It’s hard to pinpoint why. I think it’s just the lack of people coming to Southern California,” Sorrell said.

Still, Sorrell says he is optimistic for the year.

After all, the game’s not finished until the season is over.

COUNTY TOURISM STATISTICS FOR 1988 Heavy months: May, June, July, August Heavy season: 1. Summer, 2. Spring, 3. Fall, 4. Winter Total visitors: 34.62 million Where they come from: West: 54% North Central: 12% South: 8% Northeast: 7% Foreign: 19% Traveled with kids: 43% Median household income of visitors: $39,800 Visitor expenditures: $5.3 billion Median age: 36.8 years Most visited spots in the order of their popularity: Disneyland Knott’s Berry Farm Universal Studios San Diego Zoo and Sea World Queen Mary and Movieland Wax Museum Beaches and Missions (San Juan Capistrano) Medieval Times Source: Anaheim Visitor and Convention Bureau