Tourism in Area Off to Good Start : Hotels: Operators pin hopes on clear skies and an improving economy.

Ventura County’s tourist season appears to be off to its best start in years, and hotel operators say they are confident that the early trend will continue through the summer.

Hoteliers from Ventura to Simi Valley say they are hopeful that relatively clear skies combined with slow but steady economic recovery will lure an abundance of out-of-town travelers and their pocketbooks this season.

Choked by recession and gloomy weather, tourism has been a disappointment in recent years, hotel managers said.

“So far this year, our leisure travel is about at the level that we expected and a little better than last year,” said Jerry Tononi, general manager of the Doubletree Hotel in Ventura, where occupancy at hotels citywide is up slightly over last year. “What I’ve found is that the summer pretty much goes as it starts out.”

At the Radisson Hotel in Simi Valley--where the trial of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of motorist Rodney King boosted hotel occupancy last year--the tourist season is off to a more sluggish start.

“It’s a little slower this year,” said Susan Stillman, acting sales director for the hotel. “But we expect it to pick up as the summer rolls on, and we are really optimistic.”

A study released this year by the California Office of Tourism found that Ventura County ranked 12th in the state as a tourist attraction, higher than popular Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties.

Most of the county’s tourists are from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego and San Bernardino counties, according to the study.

“More and more people have come to look at Ventura County as a weekend getaway,” said Russ Smith, executive director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. “I think people are taking more frequent, but less lengthy and relatively inexpensive vacations.”

In 1990 and 1991, recession and overcast skies kept tourists away from Ventura County vacation spots. Last year, the skies cleared but hotel occupancy remained about the same.

“Tourism held up its end of the bargain, but the local economy struggled for whatever reason,” Smith said. “But I think maybe it’s bottomed out. I don’t think we’ve come all the way back by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m optimistic for this year.”

So are the people who rely on tourism for their livelihood.

At the visitor center at Channel Islands National Park headquarters, tourists surveyed the sun-washed coastline Monday and gathered around tide pools stocked with starfish and other sea life.

“We’ve been doing very well,” volunteer Mary Waldron said. “The weather as of late up here has just been wonderful, just great.”

At Casa de La Luna, a seven-room bed-and-breakfast in Ojai, tourists visit year-round but business picks up at this time of year.

“Ojai is a very touristy type of town,” manager Carol Barr said. “Tourism around here is very much alive. I plan on a very good summer.”

In Oxnard, hotels and restaurants are backing a promotional campaign aimed at halting a three-year slide in tourism-related business at Channel Islands Harbor.

The $93,000 advertising campaign--the first such effort since Oxnard’s Convention and Visitors Bureau closed in 1989--is aimed at attracting short-term visitors from the Los Angeles area.

“We’re hoping people who want to get away for awhile will consider Oxnard as a destination,” said Steve Kinney, the city’s economic development director. “Comments I’ve gotten from two or three principal hotels in the area lead me to think that they are looking for much improvement this summer.”

The manager of one of those hotels, the Mandalay Beach Resort, said efforts to attract tourists appear to be paying off.

“The Oxnard-Ventura area, I think, is consistently working to build its tourism base,” Connie Hutson said. “We are certainly doing as well as last year and we’re looking forward to a good summer.”

Bob Burk, marketing director for the Radisson hotels in Oxnard and Simi Valley, said the tourism industry is going to become increasingly important to Ventura County as other industries fold up or move away.

“I really think tourism is our future, as it is the future for so much of California,” he said. “Right now, it’s sort of a well-kept secret but that is quickly changing.”