Superstorm Sandy helped boost New Jersey hotel revenues to 5-year high
Skift Take
Displaced homeowners flooded hotels throughout the fall after a strong summer, but Sandy’s long-term impact could hurt 2013 revenues with low tourism expectations and continuing cleanup costs.
Southern New Jersey hotels and motels in 2012 saw their highest inflation-adjusted revenues in five years, bolstering a recession-pummeled industry regionally and statewide, a Press analysis of state tax records shows.
Hurricane Sandy played a role -- in some cases prompting a well-paying Federal Emergency Management Agency to book rooms for displaced homeowners during typically slow months. However, revenues in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties were significantly higher already, before the storm.
"It was a real positive year statewide ... and in South Jersey in particular, and that was put on overdrive with recovery efforts and increased lodging demand," said Brian Tyrrell, an associate professor of hospitality and tourism management studies at Richard Stockton College.
The state Division of Taxation released data last week showing income from its 5 percent state hotel occupancy tax, a main barometer of the lodging industry.
Revenue for 2012 grew more than 16 percent from
