Businesses Optimistic Despite Visitor Counts

Life’s pretty good for Tim Seale--and business is fine too.

On a weekday afternoon, he sits on top of a cooler beside his minimalist fishing rod rental stand on the Ventura Pier, his hair getting more bleached by the sun, his body more tanned.

Four of the eight rods he brought are out with customers. Through his dark sunglasses he takes it all in--the promenade out to Surfers Point, the bathers on the beach, the surfers in the water, the new seafood restaurant, the hills and--most importantly--the tourists that stroll up and down the pier.

“This is great,” Seale said. “Ventura still has the best weather on the West Coast. And people are bringing in great fish.”

Seale opened his stand in June. On weekends, he brings 10 rods to the pier and is usually pretty close to sold out, he said.

Just as the year’s busiest tourism season comes to an end in Ventura County, most hotel managers, restaurant owners and merchants share Seale’s bright outlook. The county coastline, they say, is getting to be known as a laid-back tourist destination, with great amenities and reasonable prices.

In Ventura, many merchants say business is up and the downtown renovation, which was completed last summer, will help generate more repeat customers.

But while statistics on actual dollars spent by tourists this season will not be available for several months, many indicators show only a lackluster performance by the tourist trade.

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Hotel occupancy rates through July were up marginally in Ventura and Oxnard when compared to last year. Hotel tax receipts, however, were up about 17% for the first six months of the year, mostly because of an increase in average room rates.

Meanwhile, attendance at the 12-day Ventura County Fair was up by less than 1%. At San Buenaventura State Beach, attendance in May, June and July dropped by nearly 30% compared to the same period last year. Ridership on tourist boats to the Channel Islands National Park was flat. And attendance at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley was down from 149,000 for the first eight months of 1995 to 94,500 so far this year.

Tourism boosters, however, maintain that August, traditionally the county’s busiest tourism month, has been strong and that the area as a whole is on the upswing.

“My initial gut reaction is that we had a pretty good summer,” said Bill Clawson, executive director of the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. “We know Ventura is improving as a tourism product. But you don’t redo the sidewalks and wait for an upshot in business the next month. This is the year that we are going after a lot of new customers. Because of all the renovations, all the new attractions, we hope we will have more repeat business than we had before. We really think we are in a building process. That’s why we are all optimistic.” Operators of area hotels agreed.

“What we saw this summer was that July was kind of quiet because of the Olympics and a lot of fog,” said Rod Houck, co-owner of the Pierpoint Inn. “I really think the Olympics had an effect. And because here in Ventura we get a lot of people who come from within an [hour’s drive], they tend to check the weather first and stay home if it’s not good.

“But August was way up from last year.” The hotel averaged 84% occupancy during August, up 13 percentage points from last year, and virtually all weekends have been were sold out, he said.

At the Harbortown Marina Resort, John Wong said August was the hotel’s best month in the 3 1/2 years his family has owned it.

Over the last few years, the city of Ventura has spent upward of $4.5 million on downtown redevelopment projects and more than $800,000 to build a 220-seat restaurant on the pier.

The city has also funded the visitors bureau to the tune of $500,000 for the upcoming year, Clawson said. The money will help promote the city’s revamped downtown as well as allocate seed money for organizing special events, such as sports tournaments and the upcoming powerboat races at the harbor.

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Several downtown merchants, who were adversely affected last summer while construction was ongoing, say the city’s efforts are beginning to pay off.

“We’ve had a strong summer,” said Kris Pustina, owner of Franky’s Place, a restaurant on Main Street. “Last year was really bad. But we are back to what we were two years ago. To bounce back within a year is pretty good. I think redevelopment will prove to be very positive in the long term. Customers talk all the time about how nice and how clean it is.”

But the most effective way to attract visitors may be the staging of special events. And tourism officials are banking on two events to extend the busy summer season into September.

The California Beach Party, a festival along the beachfront promenade with music and food and vendor booths, is planned for Sept. 21 and 22, and the Ventura Offshore Powerboat Grand Prix Festival is scheduled for the following weekend.

“We are promoting those two events as a way to extend the busy weekends we have in the summer into the fall,” Clawson said. “We try to give people a specific reason to come to town.”

For tourists, Ventura County remains a less expensive alternative to Santa Barbara and an attractive getaway from hot inland temperatures. That is part of the message that area tourism marketeers are trying to get out.

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In Oxnard, tourism officials have been engaged in a campaign to promote the appeal of the county’s largest city for the past two years.

“The whole idea was to take the Oxnard area and differentiate it from everything else,” said Jim Graca, a graphic designer and owner of the public relations firm that ran the Oxnard ad campaign. Graca came up with a new term, the “upcoast,” and a set of catchy phrases including, “We are only an inch away from L.A.”

The campaign, which cost $100,000, brought in more than $2 million in tourism dollars, according to a study conducted by a research firm, said Carol Lavender, executive director of the Greater Oxnard and Harbors Tourism Bureau.

And while hotel occupancy rates in Oxnard have been flat, officials at Channel Islands Harbor reported an increase in tourism. Inquiries at the visitor center nearly tripled during the fiscal year that ended June 30, when compared to the previous year. And attendance at special events was up from 78,500 to 98,000 during the same period, said Susan O’Brien, executive director of Channel Islands Harbor Marketing Inc.

Meanwhile in Ojai, a more upscale, year-round tourist destination, receipts from hotel taxes were up about 8.5% for the first six months of 1996. Tourism officials credit a recovering economy for the upswing. But the city continues to guard its small-town image and is not engaging in any major marketing campaign.

“We get so many free articles written about us, and our festivals are pretty well known,” said Margaret West of the Ojai Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center. “The season has gone pretty well. People come here to get away. They like the small-town feel. They come here to take a step back in time. They come to unwind.”

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While tourism isn’t booming in Ventura County, it isn’t in Santa Barbara either. Hotel occupancy rates have remained flat there, and analysts say that regionally the tourism industry may have reached a plateau.

“Right now, the area is not building any new hotels,” said Mark Schniepp, a Santa Barbara-based economist who tracks the Ventura County economy. “Occupancy is driven strictly by demand, and demand has leveled off. But I still think things are pretty healthy.”

Most tourists come to the county from the Greater Los Angeles area and as the economic recovery picks up steam, those people are more likely to travel further, Schniepp said.

But many agree with Schniepp that more could be done to promote this area.

“Street fairs and art walks have shown that if you stage an event, people come,” said Keith Burns, owner of Books on Main in downtown Ventura. “But I still think there is a lack of understanding in promoting downtown. The fair has brought hundreds of thousands of people to the area, but there was no signage that told people to come downtown.”

Looking at it from the Ventura Pier, Seale too thinks more can be done. Once in a while, he said, a tour bus speeding northbound along the freeway reminds him that his beloved Ventura--and his business--could do better.

“Some of those buses that stop in Santa Barbara, we have to get them to stop here,” Seale said. “That would be great. People don’t know how nice it is here.”