Atlantic City Resilient Through Second Quarter of 2017

On Sep 18, 2017

Atlantic City Tourism Performance Indicators (AC-TPI) released by the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism (LIGHT) showed a continuing pattern of sustained, positive growth for the Tourism Industry in the second quarter this year,

The AC-TPI uses year-over-year percentage changes in the monthly figures of three key performance measures:  the Atlantic County Lodging Fee per 100 rooms, the Atlantic City Casino Parking Fee per 100 spaces, and the Atlantic County non-casino Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), as an effective proxy for the performance of the tourism economy in Atlantic City.

“All three performance indicators showed healthy gains in the second quarter with the Parking Fee per 100 spaces, Lodging Fee per 100 rooms and Atlantic County Non-Casino RevPAR showing ten percent, eight percent and eight percent increases over the prior 12 months,” said Brian Tyrrell, professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management Studies at Stockton University.

“Casino Parking Fees outpaced the Lodging Fee and non-Casino RevPAR with double-digit increases in all three months,” Tyrrell said.

The Casino Parking Fee reached a new near term peak, $175 earned per 100 parking spaces, in June 2017. Tyrrell said strong performance at the remaining casinos parking garages was undoubtedly bolstered by a comparison with the prior year (2016) in which the Taj Mahal was still operating.

Non-Casino RevPAR saw healthy gains in April (15%) and June (7%) but remained flat in May. The Atlantic County Lodging Fee matched Non-Casino RevPAR in April and June, but saw 10% year over year gains in May.

Rummy Pandit, Executive Director of the LIGHT, noted: “In the wake of the casino closures, Atlantic County’s lodging industry has become highly efficient. The Twelve-Month Trailing Total for the Atlantic County Lodging Fee is up 7.4% over the previous twelve-month period and, at $686 per 100 rooms, is the highest on record. Both Average Daily Room Rates and Occupancy for non-casino hotels increased in eight of the past 12 months. ”

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