Atlantic City Tourism On The Rise

Not only have Atlantic City’s casinos benefitted from the closure of the Trump Taj Mahal in October of 2016, but the seven remaining operators have also helped increase the number of new visitors travelling to the to the east coast beachfront resort. As a result, Atlantic City’s casinos have now generated revenue of $1.8 billion for the first eight months in 2017, marking a 2% improvement compared to the same period of time in 2016.
The Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University was able to calculate the performance of Atlantic City’s tourism industry by using three important metrics, namely lodging fees, parking fees, and non-casino revenue, which Stockton researcher Brian Tyrrell says combined “serve as an effective proxy for the performance of the tourism economy in Atlantic City.” Impressively,  all of these metrics noted an increase of between 8 and 10% over the last 12 months.
Monitoring the amount of money collected from parking spaces enables analysts to asses the number of people visiting casinos, with revenue from the resort’s 30,000 available spaces having risen over the last six months. Likewise, the lodging market also reported solid year-on-year growth, as the closure of the Trump Taj Mahal has meant that the other casinos have been able to take advantage of reduced room availability by increasing their own lodging fees.
Furthermore, Atlantic City casinos have also reported a 90% occupancy rate for Q2 of 2017, with Resorts leading the way with a rate of 95 percent, and Borgata, the resort’s biggest hotel with 2,767 bedrooms, not far behind on 90%. At the other end of the scale, the Golden Nugget reported an 82% occupancy rate over the second quarter. Commenting upon the hugely positive figures, Rummy Pandit, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism, stated:
“In the wake of casino closures, Atlantic County’s lodging industry has become highly efficient. The 12 month trailing total for the Atlantic County Lodging Fee is up 7.4 percent over the previous 12-month period and, at $686 per 100 rooms, is the highest on record.”