8 • June 2021
BUSINESS NEWS
Coast River Business Journal
LUKE WHITTAKER
Waikiki Beach at Cape Disappointment State Park is a popular destination all year whether it’s winter storm season or a serene spring day.
Pacifi c County tourism industry expects growth
Story by Emily Lindblom
Coast River Business Journal
elindblom@crbizjournal.com
Though the coronavirus pandemic
slightly dampened visitor spending on the
coast, Pacifi c County still saw signifi cant
crowds throughout 2020.
The county’s total number of visitors
was up 14.6% over the year, while Wash-
ington state overall had a drop in visita-
tion by 27.3%.
Andi Day, the executive director of the
Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau,
presented these numbers during a virtual
State of the Industry 2021 meeting at the
end of May. She said Pacifi c County’s vis-
itor spending declined by 4.5%, but com-
pared to the overall state visitor spending
declining by 40%, it doesn’t seem so bad.
Only four other counties in Washington
experienced declines as small as Pacifi c
County’s.
“If you take the exceptional growth we
LUKE WHITTAKER
Visitors fi lled downtown Long Beach during
Memorial Day Weekend.
PACIFIC COUNTY TOURISM BUREAU
Visitor spending in Pacifi c County dipped in 2020, but it was still above the years before 2019.