Beachgoers head back to the parking lot at Sea Bright yesterday afternoon.
Brilliant sunshine, warmth offset by gentle breezes, cool nighttime temperatures this weekend’s weather could hardly have been more enjoyable.
Businesswise, the Labor Day weekend was the capper to summer season that was, by two accounts, so-so. The Star-Ledger and the Asbury Park Press have end-of season wraps that each proclaim, in somewhat fuzzy terms, that the summer coulda been worse, coulda been better for those businesses that rely on tourist spending.
From the Ledger:
Not great. But good. From Sandy Hook down to Cape May, that seems to be the consensus on the Jersey Shore’s summer tourism season that officially ended with a sun-drenched Labor Day.
It wasn’t as profitable as 2002, when terrorism-stoked fears of flying had everyone driving to the Shore for their vacations. And it wasn’t as lousy as last summer, which had a soggy ending that drove down business.
But when all the beach badge sales, hotel receipts and amusement park tickets are added up a few months from now, Monmouth County Tourism Representative Jeanne DeYoung said she expects 2007 will more than hold its own.
“If I had a crystal ball, I’d guess we’re going to see a nice increase over last summer,” said Jeanne DeYoung, the tourism representative on the Monmouth County Department of Economic Development and Tourism. “I seem to be getting good reports from everyone I’m talking to.”
Of course, summer’s not really over, and the warm sunny weather is forecast to continue through the rest of the week and into next week, according to the National Weather Service.
