Resort planners last week gained a better understanding of tourism data in an effort to update Ocean City's comprehensive plan.
Last Wednesday, the Marine City Planning and Zoning Commission invited Tom Perlozzo, Director of Tourism and Business Development, to participate in a work session for the Comprehensive Plan Update. City Planner Bill Neville said Perlozzo's knowledge of tourism data will be helpful as committee members begin updating planning documents.
“Fun facts about Ocean City were incorporated into our comprehensive plan and pulled out to help the community,” he explained. “It’s just the start of the day.”
In December, the commission began updating the city's comprehensive plan, which guides residential, commercial, recreational and community land use within the community. The most recent update was completed in 2017 and adopted in 2018, Neville said.
As part of this effort, several guests will be invited to the Planning Commission's work sessions to provide insight into specific chapters of the Comprehensive Plan. Neville told commissioners last week that the first two sections of the document deal with community character, economic development and census demographics.
“What we've relied on in the past is to provide a lot of information to the tourism director,” he says.
Neville said the purpose of the meeting was to have Perlozzo review tourism data and consider changes to the master plan.
“What I think would be interesting is to see what kind of information the tourism board collects,” he said. “Does it identify trends that should be factored into this year's compensation plan?”
Perlozzo said that prior to the 2021 adoption, the tourism board used demoflash, a metric system that uses sewage emissions to determine population, to collect visitor numbers. However, he pointed out that these statistics do not necessarily reflect the number of visitors to the town.
“I don't know how it was collected, but I didn't think it was very reliable for what we needed to do,” he said.
Since then, the tourism board has used several software platforms, including Zartico, Placer AI, and AirDNA, to track visitors and foot traffic and collect consumer data. He said these tools are helping Ocean City develop new brands and advertising campaigns.
“About six months later, we have information that will help us look at market trends, look at the origins of our visitors, better market the resort and create opportunities to make it a year-round destination. “We made a concerted effort to get it,” he said.
Neville noted that the Planning Commission has expressed interest in developing a study to assist in updating the city's comprehensive plan. He asked if the tourism board also uses surveys.
“This is one of the things we're thinking about in terms of land use,” he says. “Is it still worth completing a user survey that is basically aimed at town residents or visitors?”
Perlozzo said the tourism board used focus groups and surveys as part of its rebranding efforts. The town says it has received 5,000 responses.
“That’s the only kind of research we’ve done in the last two years,” he responded.
Neville also asked whether the state had produced tourism data that tracks tax revenue, visitors and employment. Perlozzo responded that annual reports are available online.
“The really interesting number is how much money tourism saves each income tax holder in Maryland when you add up the tourism efforts,” he said.
Neville said a significant challenge the city faced was the use of census data, which measures the permanent resident population as of April 1, which he said does not accurately reflect Ocean City's population.
“When I was going through this, I felt that pulling that information from the census data and incorporating it into Chapter 1 didn’t capture what was unique about Ocean City,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily provide information that leads to recommendations to include in the plan.”
Officials also highlighted problems with using demoflush to track visits. Perlozzo said he believes the tourism board's new tracking software more accurately reflects the population.
“I want to create a new measurement tool,” Neville told Perlozzo. “The real value is year-over-year, not in any particular year. So if we start collecting this data over the next few years, it will be very helpful.”
Neville encouraged committee members to consider census and tourism data when recommending changes to the comprehensive plan. While he acknowledged that tourism was the resort's main industry, he said themes such as aging and housing were also important.
“Think of things as we move forward in 10-year increments,” he said. “What do we think best describes Ocean City as a place? I think it's interesting to start with tourism, and we recognize that as a major industry in our community.” But when you get into the housing chapter, you can't ignore the fact that there's a secondary industry that supports companies that provide entertainment.”
