Ocean County Officials Step Up Efforts to Attract Tourists

Facing greater competition than ever from areas such as the Delaware and Maryland shorelines, as well as the Carolinas, Ocean County officials say they will renew their focus on tourism starting with a tourism-centric website.

"We have to bring money into Ocean County," said Freeholder Director Joseph Vicari. "Every dollar that comes into the county circulates seven times around. The more money that comes into Ocean County, it creates jobs and increases our ratable base."

Tourism yields $4.3 billion in revenue and 70,000 jobs in Ocean County each year, but outreach efforts from other areas have led to more competition as resort areas battle for visitors' dollars in a stagnant economy, officials say. People from North Jersey and surrounding states have given areas besides the Jersey Shore a try in recent years.

"We want those people to come back to Ocean County," said Vicari. "Ten years ago we didn’t have to do this because the economy was doing very well."

The county recently unveiled a new tourism website, OceanCountyTourism.com, which was built completely in-house, officials said. The website includes driving directions, an interactive events calendar and directories to tourism-related business such as charter fishing boats.

"We’ve included so many of the different tourism attractions in Ocean County," said Dana Lancellotti, director of the Ocean County Division of Business Development and Tourism. "There’s quite a variety on there. It represents your typical, wonderful life at the Shore."

County officials are also planning to focus more attention on the military members and their families at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

"A lot of our military people will be coming and enjoying the Jersey Shore," said Vicari.

In addition to the website, the county has also started a tourism Facebook page.