Orange County’s tourism industry is on the brink of rejuvenation after languishing in a sea of construction for the past few years.
The convention center expansion in Anaheim is set to be complete by year’s end. Last week, Paul Pressler, president of Walt Disney Attractions, announced opening dates for the Disneyland Resort projects,Jan. 2 for the Grand Californian Hotel, Jan. 12 for Downtown Disney and Feb. 8 for the new California Adventure park.
Freeway construction on the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway is almost finished through Orange County. And the years of depressed hotel occupancy, fewer conventions and sagging attendance at Disneyland stand to be reversed, with signs of a pickup already taking hold.
Summertime Blues
Next year, California Adventure is expected to boost attendance at the Disneyland Resort by 50%,about 7 million people. The expansion also is expected to attract a more diverse crowd with the addition of an on-site hotel and an adjoining entertainment and retail complex dubbed Downtown Disney.
Still, there’s another tourist season,and construction detours,to get through. And with so much attention focused on 2001, some industry insiders have worried about the impact on summer crowds this year.
Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting in Los Angeles, last fall told the audience at the Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook Conference that Orange County should expect minimal increases in overall hotel occupancy in 2000, with a decline expected in Anaheim. But last week, Baltin said things are looking up.
“Orange County is looking better than we thought before,” Baltin said.
Last year, the county attracted 38 million visitors who spent $5.9 billion in the county,figures the tourist industry hopes will be exceeded this year.
Low hotel occupancy in January and February did not bode well for that expectation, but Baltin said March numbers more than made up the difference, with a countywide average increase of 3.5%.
And the local tourism industry is still betting on the come, creating ways to lure tourists to the county this year.
Knott’s Berry Farm is poised to grow its tourist base this year while Anaheim is completing its new resort look. Like its neighbor Disneyland, Knott’s wants to position itself as a multi-day vacation destination resort.
Knott’s is opening the first phase of its new Soak City USA attraction adjacent to the current theme park in June. The 13-acre water park will feature 21 water rides and attractions and represents a $25 million investment by Knott’s parent, Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LLP in Orange County expansion. In addition to the new park, Knott’s is constructing a major water attraction, Perilous Plunge,billed as the world’s tallest, steepest and wettest water ride,inside Knott’s Berry Farm that will also open this summer. And the park is an official celebration center for the 50th anniversary of Peanuts,a celebration that has attracted worldwide interest in the wake of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz’s retirement and subsequent death earlier this year.
Cedar Fair also acquired the former Buena Park Hotel for $17.5 million last year and spent another $10.5 million remodeling it into the Radisson Resort at Knott’s Berry Farm. The hotel has a special Snoopy floor where rooms carry out the theme right down to stuffed animals on the beds, soap dishes and bedspreads.
“We know we’ll never be Disneyland,” park spokesman Bob Ochsner told the Business Journal earlier this year, “but we want to be more than a day-trip, too.”
Autopia Anew
Meanwhile, at Disneyland, the 45th anniversary of the park is being celebrated with a new nighttime parade, fireworks show and a revamped Autopia attraction that will open June 29.
The fireworks show, which debuted in February and is billed as a “Skytacular,” uses pyrotechnics that were choreographed to theme music according to a Disney official and has been well received by guests.
The parade, featuring a full range of Disney characters, also brings randomly chosen park guests into the parade,the first time non-cast members have been included in such a production.
Autopia is the only existing Tomorrowland attraction dating to the park’s opening in 1955. The new version, presented by Chevron, will include an interactive element as well as an SUV model as one of the new vehicles offered at the attraction.
Meanwhile, in Newport Beach, the Conference & Visitors Bureau recently launched a program called Extras,hotel packages that include a minimum of two weekday nights and a choice of two round-trip tickets to Catalina, two VIP tickets to a Fashion Island concert or two tickets to the Orange County Museum of Art.
Participating properties are the Balboa Bay Club, Four Seasons, Hyatt Newporter, Marriott Newport Coast Villas, Newport Beach Marriott, Sheraton Newport Beach and Sutton Place Hotel.
The program targets Los Angeles and Arizona markets and involves a combination of direct mail and print ads, according to CVB President Rosalind Williams. The print ads have already debuted in the Los Angeles Times, while the direct mail campaign,in partnership with American Express,will launch in June.
“We received 2,000 inquiries just off the print ads,” Williams said.
A consortium of visitor bureaus (Anaheim/OC, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach) has teamed to promote cultural tourism in conjunction with the “Forbidden City” exhibition at Santa Ana’s Bowers Museum, an exhibit of more than 350 rare items that is the largest loan ever to come from the Palace Museum in Beijing.
A new brochure by the consortium highlights the museum exhibit as well as providing a quick reference guide to Orange County’s attractions.
In other developments geared to bring in tourists this year, the Orange Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau recently launched the Orange Trolley, a free transportation option for visitors that will begin its rounds June 6. Sponsored by the Orange Chamber and CVB, the trolley will shuttle visitors between The Block at Orange, the Orange Metrolink station and Anaheim-area attractions and hotels from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. CVB officials hope it will help them bring a bigger share of the tourist dollar to Orange.
“We’re promoting the small-town, middle America feel you can find in Orange,” one CVB official said.
In Los Angeles, the CVB and a convention host committee are gearing up for the arrival of the Democratic National Convention that will be held downtown in August, bringing about 35,000 people to the Southland. LA officials are optimistic that this influx of visitors will spill over into Orange County.
“I’m confident the economic impact will reach Orange County from having Democrats in their backyard,” said Luis Vizcaino, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee.
Local officials, however, aren’t so optimistic.
Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau said he didn’t think OC would see much benefit.
“They’re too diligent and too focused,” he said. “They come (to a city), they go to caucuses. Another convention that same size would (benefit tourism).”
Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Council, however, said he thinks the county will benefit in the long run.
“The years after a convention (are when) you see the bump in tourism activity as a result of the media coverage,” he said. n
