Tourist Businesses Expect Better Summer : Economy: Officials hope that sunny days and freer-spending visitors will lead to higher hotel tax revenues for cities. Bad weather and the recession took their toll last year.

After a disappointing 1991 season, Ventura County hotel and restaurant operators are predicting the return of the summer tourist this year.

Bruce Hobbs, director of marketing at the Doubletree Hotel in Ventura, said he expects sunshine and a slightly improved economy to lure more out-of-town travelers and their pocketbooks to the area.

“I’ve been here three years, and I’ve learned that you forecast your occupancy with the weather,” Hobbs said. “In this area, the main thing we’re looking for is a good summer and no fog.”

The tourist trade accounts for about 8,000 jobs in Ventura County, including about 1,400 in the hotel industry, according to a 1988 study. Last year, tourists spent about $500 million, including about $75 million on lodgings.

This year, hotel operators expect to do better.

At the Ojai Valley Inn, advance bookings for the summer months are running well ahead of last year, said Alex Frankel, the hotel’s director of marketing.

“Our group business is better,” he said. “We’re way ahead.”

In Oxnard, one hotelier hopes that the county’s sun-swept coastline will appeal to Los Angeles County residents weary of congestion and urban discord.

“Our market is to the south of us,” said Bob Burk, director of sales for the Radisson Suite Hotel at River Ridge in Oxnard. “This year so far, there’s been a slight increase in demand.”

The upbeat outlook comes in the wake of a 1991 summer season that was one of the worst in years, thanks to the recession and gloomy weather.

Most of the county’s 33 hotels, including large beachside resorts and smaller motels near the Ventura Freeway, reported lower-than-normal rates of occupancy throughout the peak summer season, said Russ Smith, director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. For the year, the county’s hotels reported an average occupancy of 59.1%, compared to 61% the previous year.

As a result, some cities that depend on hotel occupancy tax revenue noticed a sharp decline. The taxes are based on a percentage of a hotel’s revenues, and are the most direct way that local cities reap benefits from out-of-town travelers.

Ventura, the biggest beachfront destination for out-of-town travelers, collected $1.9 million in hotel occupancy taxes last year, almost the same as the previous year.

This year, the city is projecting a 5% increase in hotel occupancy tax revenues, for a total of more than $2 million, a city official said.

In Thousand Oaks, where hotels cater to a large number of business conventions, hotel occupancy tax revenues dropped 6.5% last year, to $1.2 million, a city finance official said. Revenue is expected to decline even more this year, he said.

Smith said hotel managers have had to keep weekly rates low and provide special weekend rates to attract travelers.

Hotels were not the only businesses buffeted by the drop in tourism last year. Beachfront merchants said sales of fishing tackle, bathing suits and food also fell.

“People were definitely not buying as much. They’re really watching their money,” said Amalie Abbott, co-owner of Capt. Abbott’s Harbor Village Sport Fishing in Ventura, which sells bait and supplies to fishermen.

Abbott said business was down by about $10,000 to $20,000 last summer because of the bad weather. Business this year remains slow, she said.

“Sunny weather makes a big difference,” Abbott said. “As soon as it comes out, I don’t think money will be an issue.”

Michael Kutnick, owner of the Whale’s Tail restaurant at Channel Islands Harbor, said the last two years were the worst that he has seen in 10 years of managing the restaurant at Channel Islands Harbor.

Oxnard businesses also were hurt by the loss of the Oxnard Convention and Visitors Bureau, Kutnick said.

Two years ago, the city slashed the bureau’s budget from $400,000 to $60,000, and it was cut completely a year ago. Kutnick now heads a committee of city and business leaders working to develop tourism in Oxnard.

“We had a 7% decrease in revenues over the year before. We’ve weathered recessions before,” Kutnick said. “We’re hoping that this is the trough, and it will not be worse.”