Beach business is booming in Delaware during the holiday weekend.
That hasn’t been the case for much of the year according to Carol Everhart, President of the Rehoboth/Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce.
She says hotel occupancy rates dropped by 15 percent compared to last year during the January through June time period, something she attributes in part to the recent run of wet weather.
But as of Friday afternoon, lodging facilities in the Rehoboth/Dewey area are at 98 percent capacity.
“So when you look at that, what you’re talking about is under 50 rooms are currently available for rent if you were driving into town [Friday night],” said Everhart.
Everhart adds that the drop in business prior to this weekend has come as a bit of a surprise. She says a typical indicator for incoming tourists is the number of brochures her office sends out.
“The oddity in this is that while our numbers were consistently higher for requests for information – and much of it from New Jersey – we didn’t see a result in that until this weekend,” said Everhart.
She also notes that she saw evidence of more people rented homes and condos for the holiday, but won’t be able to confirm that until the weekend is over.
