FEATURE STORY
6 • April 2021
Coast River Business Journal
Industry Spotlight:
Spring break very busy for local businesses
Story by Emily Lindblom
Coast River Business Journal
elindblom@crbizjournal.com
W
ith visitors filling hotels, restaurants and park-
ing lots to capacity, spring break 2021 looked very
different from spring break a year ago, when cities
were discouraging out-of-towners from coming to
the coast.
While transient lodging tax numbers indicating
the amount of spring breakers aren’t available yet,
tourism organization directors and local leaders said
they’ve seen their cities enliven with tourists in the
past few weeks.
Long Beach Peninsula
The state of Washington broke up the spring
break schedule by school district, so while Ocean
Park and several others had their spring breaks April
5 to 9, Seattle Public Schools’ break was slated for
April 12 to 15.
Andi Day, the executive director of the Long
Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau, said the peninsula
experienced a busy January and February during the
state’s mid-winter breaks, so she expected to see a
busy spring.
In early 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic
hit the coast, the peninsula had its best January and
February on record, until restrictions were put in
place to protect against the spread of the virus.
“Our tourism industry is to be commended for
quickly adapting and adhering to safety protocols
while weathering the stormy seas of restrictions,
phases and ever-changing guidelines,” Day said.
Despite the business closures and limitations,
the third and fourth quarters of 2020 were strong
for tourism, with lodging sales running only slightly
below the record-breaking numbers during the same
period in 2019.
Day said the peninsula’s geo-fencing and spend-
ing data shows tourism is off to a strong start again
this year.
“Measuring unique weekly visitors at lodging
properties, we show the first six weeks of this year as
the best ever and late February and early March only
slightly below the record-setting 2020,” Day said.
“Our tourism and supporting businesses are work-
ing hard to keep visitors and locals safe while keep-
ing the doors open and making up for lost time.”
She added the peninsula’s wide open spaces,
outdoor activities, lodging options and restaurants
make it an ideal destination for an overnight get-
away or road trip.
“All these assets combined with a pent-up
demand for travel and the steady vaccine rollout
tell us to expect lots of company again this year,”
Day said. She added the detour on Highway 401 that
resulted from a landslide between Naselle and Asto-
ria could also bring new traffic to the peninsula. The
visitors bureau is turning the detour into a market-
ing opportunity, calling it the “Detour to Discovery.”
The visitors bureau is starting new initiatives to
encourage tourism growth, including a direct book-
ing engine for local lodging businesses on its web-
site, visitlongbeachpeninsula.com, and a market-
ing toolkit to recruit more filming projects to Pacific
County.
Bonnie Cozby, president of the Ocean Park Area
Chamber of Commerce, said she’s planning to pre-
pare for large weekends and a high amount of traf-
fic this season.
“Retail is an area that should get a lovely boost
from this season’s visitors,” Cozby said, adding
the key will be holding down COVID-19 caseload
numbers.
“Businesses have risen to this challenge last sum-
mer and will continue to do so,” Cozby said. “The
wildcard is the visitor … will they be fed up and
want to cut loose or has the message to remain care-
ful been taken to heart? With more people fully vac-
cinated, we have a better chance than last season.”
North Clatsop County
While hotels in the Astoria and Warrenton area
were filling up with both visitors who had made res-
ervations and last-minute sign-ins who secured the
last available rooms, some of them were facing an
Q: What is the advantage of planting bare-root
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2020
A:
There are several advantages in the winter, and now in early spring
while the plants are still dormant (no leaves). With no soil around the
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STORE FOR 2020
HAILEY HOFFMAN/THE ASTORIAN
Kyle Crawford, left, plays soccer at the beach in Seaside with his sons Carter and Roman on Friday afternoon.
added challenge of being understaffed.
David Reid, executive director of the Asto-
ria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, said
this challenge is becoming widespread in the hospi-
tality, retail and food service industries, which make
up about 34% of the area’s workforce.
“They can’t get people back to work,” Reid said,
noting the many causes for this could include cau-
tion about the pace of bringing staff back, as well as
the lack of childcare options in the area. “They’ve
had a great weekend filling up the rooms, but it’s
been rough in terms of not having enough staff.”
Henry Balensifer, the mayor of Warrenton, said
there was a workforce shortage before the pan-
demic, but it’s much worse now.
“Employees are working longer hours to pro-
duce the same amount,” Balensifer said. “How can
businesses get back to normal when they can’t have
their workforce back to normal?”
Balensifer said the region hasn’t felt overly
crowded, but tourism has been steady and local
businesses have been pragmatic in deciding how
much inventory to stock to meet the demand with-
out having too much to sit on.
Overall, visitors have been following guidelines
and respecting the need for virus-related restric-
tions, according to Bruce Jones, mayor of Astoria
and deputy director of the Columbia River Maritime
Museum.
The museum’s visitation numbers for March
were at about 90 to 95% of the numbers for the
same time period in 2019. Jones added he didn’t see
the same level of concern from locals about visitors
coming in compared to a year ago.
“The moderate risk level restricted the number
of people who could be in the museum, and there
were days when we did reach that level and had peo-
ple wait to go in,” Jones said. “Very few guests were
upset about the restrictions, people seem to have
adjusted.”