Invest: South Jersey 2021

Page 36

John Siciliano Executive Director & CFO Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority

How did the Wildwoods economy evolve in the past year and what needs to be done to ensure growth? For the first 12 months of the pandemic, we were just shut down as a convention center. Last summer, even though the Convention Center was closed, the town did relatively well from the standpoint of hotels and restaurants. By June, they finally started to open and most of the restaurants were doing takeout. This year, we’ve already been to three grand openings of new restaurants and business entities with over 30 more slated to open by summer. That is exciting and encouraging based on what we just came out of. In terms of growth, we need to keep investing in our infrastructure. In 2015, we did a study that showed we delivered $1.5 billion worth of economic impact from tourism. By 2019, that number was closer to $1.9 billion. Cape May County alone brings in $6.3 billion. Investment in the tourism economy here, with the state’s help, goes back to the state in spades. That’s why it’s critical to inject resources into our boardwalk and the infrastructure that is needed for that. What is your outlook for tourism and hospitality activity toward 2022? Barring any unforeseen developments, we will continue to build to get back to where we were pre-pandemic. When you live in a town like this, the business people here are very resilient because they have to learn their business and learn to survive. We saw a lot of things change, such as restaurants moving from indoor to outdoor dining. We’ve seen some very creative things happening on our boardwalk and in our restaurants. Our boardwalk amusements and shops are probably not going to be 100% open because they don’t have the proper staffing but we firmly believe that we’re going to have a very good summer here. We are in talks for the development of a Marriott Hotel next door to the convention center, which would be a significant enhancement for us. That is in the due diligence period right now and by September 2021, we will know whether or not they are moving forward. 34

| Invest: South Jersey 2021 | ECONOMY: TOURISM, ARTS & CULTURE

New Jersey welcomed over 80 million visitors in 2020.

struggling to recover. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), hotels nationwide lost around $50 billion in room revenue and average occupancy rates for 2020 were around 44%. Despite low occupancy, hotels also have higher costs due to increased sanitation measures while having lost revenue from restaurant closures or capacity limitations. In 2021, the AHLA says hotels are expected to add 200,000 jobs but will remain well below 2019 levels until at least 2023. Nationwide hotel occupancy in 2021 is expected to average just 52.5%, with a more significant rebound expected in 2022 at 61.4%. The drop in occupancy has a direct impact on state and local coffers. Direct state and local tax revenue generated from hotels fell by approximately $13 billion to $27.5 billion in 2020 across the nation. In New Jersey, bed tax revenues in 2020 were $77 million, down from


Articles inside

Interview: Ali Houshmand

3min
pages 146-148

Perspective: Community College

2min
page 145

Interview: Merodie Hancock

2min
page 137

Interview: Frederick Keating

2min
page 138

Interview: Joseph Marbach

5min
pages 139-140

Market Voices: Education specialties Monica Adya, Dean, Rutgers School of Business-Camden

2min
page 141

Interview: Barbara Gaba, President Atlantic Cape Community College

4min
pages 143-144

Interview: Antonio Tillis, Chancellor Rutgers University – Camden

3min
page 142

Brave new world: As lockdowns

2min
page 136

Cornerstones: Telehealth legislation

2min
pages 134-135

Interview: Brian Sweeney, President

4min
pages 132-133

Interview: Al Maghazehe, President & CEO, Capital Health

3min
pages 130-131

Roundtable: Healthcare trends David Baiada, CEO, BAYADA Home Health Care

9min
pages 124-127

Interview: Amy Mansue, President CEO, Inspira Health Network

4min
pages 128-129

Interview: Alexander Vaccaro

2min
page 121

Interview: Mary Ann Boccolini

4min
pages 122-123

Recovery: It was a tough year for healthcare practitioners but a light is shining at the end of the tunnel

2min
page 120

Interview: James Andreacci, Market

2min
pages 117-119

Interview: Denise Monahan, Group

2min
page 113

Interview: John Herring, New Jersey Market President, Liberty Bell Bank - A Division of The Bank of Delmarva

4min
pages 111-112

Interview: Anthony DeSalle

2min
page 116

Interview: Louis Lombardi, Senior

2min
page 106

Interview: Harry Stone, President CEO, Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation (CBAC)

4min
pages 107-108

Interview: Vincent D’Alessandro

2min
page 110

Interview: Rob Curley, South Jersey Market President, TD Bank

2min
page 105

New approach: South Jersey’s pandemic takeaways are translating into future growth and resilience

1min
page 104

Perspectives: Industrial evolution

3min
page 98

Roundtable: Energy innovation Mike Renna, President & CEO, South Jersey Industries Gary Stockbridge, Region President, Atlantic City Electric & Delmarva Power

6min
pages 96-97

Interview: Carl Ortell, CEO, Holman Enterprises

5min
pages 94-95

Interview: Stephen Dougherty

5min
pages 99-100

Interview: Joseph Divis, Interim

3min
page 101

Interview: Andrew Saporito

4min
pages 102-103

Interview: John Hanson, President CEO, DRPA | PATCO

2min
page 93

Economic catalyst: Job creation

1min
page 92

Interview: Anthony Mazzarelli, Co

6min
pages 89-91

Interview: Kevin O’Dowd, Co-CEO

3min
page 88

Interview: Sidney Brown, CEO, NFI

2min
page 85

Interview: Dana Redd, Chief

3min
page 87

Interview: Kris Kolluri, President & CEO, Camden Community Partnership, Inc.

2min
page 83

County Cornerstones

2min
page 84

Interview: Victor Carstarphen

2min
page 82

Interview: Louis Cappelli Jr

2min
page 81

Looking forward: The transformation of Camden County is well underway, with significant signs of success

2min
page 80

Interview: Joe Jingoli, CEO, JINGOLI

5min
pages 76-79

Interview: John O’Donnell, CEO, The

3min
page 74

Interview: Chris Wilhelm, Regional

3min
page 73

Market voices: Construction outlook Anne Koons, CEO, Vineland Construction

2min
page 75

Interview: David Hammond, CEO

2min
page 72

Interview: Stephen Schoch

6min
pages 70-71

Perspectives: Real estate activity

3min
page 69

Interview: Joseph Maressa

4min
pages 67-68

Interview: Gerald Thornton

7min
pages 59-61

County Cornerstones

2min
page 62

Interview: Jay Gillian, Mayor, Ocean City

3min
pages 63-65

Interview: Vicki Clark, President Cape May County Chamber of Commerce

5min
pages 57-58

Interview: Leonard Desiderio

2min
page 56

Interview: Diane Wieland, Tourism

2min
page 55

Coastal Shift: Cape May County is well on the path to recovery, with more than tourism in its sights

1min
page 54

Perspectives: Pandemic fallout

3min
pages 51-53

Interview: Charlie Muracco, CEO

5min
pages 49-50

Interview: Steven Poulathas

5min
pages 46-47

Interview: Paul Ritter, President CEO, Cumberland Mutual

3min
page 45

Interview: Timothy Guim, President & CEO, PCH Technologies

5min
pages 43-44

Interview: Elaine Damm, CEO, ACCU Staffing Services

2min
page 42

Interview: George Norcross

2min
page 41

New blueprint: Professional services firms are taking the lead in guiding clients through a new business landscape

2min
page 40

Interview: Eustace Mita, CEO

2min
page 35

Interview: John Siciliano, Executive

2min
page 36

Perspective: Sustainability and sports

3min
pages 37-39

Interview: Larry Sieg, President CEO, Meet AC

4min
pages 33-34

Interview: Michael Snyder, Director

2min
page 32

Interview: Heather Simmons

4min
pages 29-30

Tough year: The struggles of the past year are well known but signs of a rebound are emerging

2min
page 31

Interview: Louis Cappelli Jr

2min
page 28

Market voices: Transformative developments Ray Jones, President, Camden Business Association Ben Laury, Director of County Commissioners, Salem County Lauren Moore, President, Atlantic County Economic Alliance Stephen Steglik, Mayor, Township of Mount Laurel

4min
pages 22-23

Interview: Michele Siekerka

4min
pages 24-25

Cornerstones: Emerging Film Industry

3min
page 26

Interview: Stephen Sweeney, Senate

2min
page 21

Interview: Marlene Asselta

2min
page 17

Interview: Michele Gillian, Executive

2min
page 16

Roundtable: Chambers of commerce Janet Garraty, Director, Gloucester County Chamber of Commerce Dawn Hunter, Executive Director, Greater Vineland Chamber of

7min
pages 18-20

The next big thing: With an emerging

2min
page 10

Interview: Jose Lozano, President CEO, Choose New Jersey

2min
page 15

Interview: Phil Murphy, Governor State of New Jersey

2min
page 11

Interview: Gerard Velazquez

5min
pages 13-14

Interview: Christina Renna

2min
page 12
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.