SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Businesses Near Mission Hurting

The popular Mission San Juan Capistrano reports a 6% increase in visitors for the fiscal year ended June 30, but the owners of some downtown shops and restaurants that usually benefit from the tourist attraction say that business is poor.

“Business is slow, the worst I’ve had in 12 years,” said Ana M. Tejeda, owner of Ana’s of Guatemala on Ortega Highway, close to the centuries-old attraction. “If you walk around town, you see a lot of empty spaces.”

A task force, recently appointed by the city, has made promoting downtown businesses one of its goals, said Richard Hansen, Chamber of Commerce president.

“I know we are hearing from the folks in and around the mission whose livelihood depends on tourism that they have been impacted,” Hansen said.

The task force will look into one rumor in downtown circles that the Mission San Luis Rey in North San Diego County has drawn tour buses that would have normally stopped in San Juan Capistrano.

Gerald Miller, business manager for the Mission San Juan Capistrano, said more tour buses are actually coming here.

Miller, who declined to release exact attendance figures for the mission, said the annual number of visitors in past years has hovered between 400,000 and 500,000.

Maggie Jones, gift shop manager at the Mission San Luis Rey, said tour buses were up a bit there over last year.

“But we can’t really say that we’re taking (Mission San Juan Capistrano’s) business,” Jones said. “Their very worst day would be one of our best.”

Miller said downtown San Juan Capistrano businesses must do more than wait for mission tourists to walk by their shops.

“We have been telling the Chamber of Commerce that we need to have something to give out to people for things to do in San Juan Capistrano,” Miller said. “We shouldn’t have to do that. We bring (tourists) into town.”

Two employees at the Cafe Capistrano, easily visible across the street from the mission, said Monday that tourist-driven business is off considerably.

“We have really seen a decline, period,” said Leigh Jack, whose parents own the restaurant.

“This is summer. This would normally be our good time,” Phylis Frobish said between waiting on tables.

Not all downtown merchants say they are off from the year before.

Joan Hansen, part owner of Saint Nicholas Inc., said her numbers are up slightly.

The business celebrated its 15th anniversary Monday.

“If it wasn’t for tourists, we wouldn’t be here,” Hansen said.