Point Reyes Light - October 4, 2001
Terrorism hasn't scared off West Marin’s tourists
By Daniel Freed
Although the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have devastated air travel, as well as tourism in cities such as New York and San Francisco, the number of travelers visiting West Marin is now normal.
As Nancy Vogler, owner of Lawson’s Landing in Dillon Beach, noted, "We’ve heard lots of customers saying, ‘They’re bombing the cities, but they’re not bombing the country.’"
Vogler, like many others in West Marin’s visitor-serving industry, reported an initial wave of cancellations in the first week after the terrorist attacks. However, she and others found the number of tourists on the coast was normal for September.
Visits from stranded travelers
In fact, many of the initial cancellations came from faraway travelers whose flights were canceled or who feared getting on a plane soon after the attacks.
But the loss of visitors from distant cities, has been made up for by an increase in weekend travelers from the Bay Area.
"People from within the state have wanted to come out here more," said Michele Brainard, assistant manger of the Golden Hinde Inn in Inverness. "A lot of city people are saying they want to get away from the stress of the city. They say there’s a lot of tension there right now."
While San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau president John Marks has attempted to lure visitors back to the city by reminding the public that "travel is one of our most basic freedom," Mark Brody, a manager at Dillon Beach Resort, said, "People come here to contemplate the ocean and get away from CNN."
Park visits unchanged
Point Reyes National Seashore, which draws 2.5 million visitors yearly, is one of the main spots where visitors have continued to show up.
National Seashore spokesman John Dell’Osso this week noted, "I’d say there’s no change. If anything, there was a slight increase this September compared to last September."
Dell’Osso said that about 3,000 travelers continue to visit the Bear Valley Visitors Center each weekend day and about 500 on each weekday. These figures, he said, are collected from an optical counter which records entrances into the Visitor Center’s front door.
Dell’Osso also noted that a survey conducted by the park prior to Sept. 11 indicated that park visitors are predominantly local – with 70 percent arriving from the nine Bay Area counties. Since only a minority of park visitors come to the park after traveling by air to the Bay Area, a slowdown in airline travel has had little effect on recent park visitation.
Rural areas unaffected
One Seashore visitor from nearby, Greg Hiers of Glen Ellen, Sonoma County, showed up at the park Tuesday with his family. "Out here and in Sonoma County, I didn’t see much of a drop [in visitors] since the 11th, but everyone is kind of scared to go into the city."
Also visiting the park on Tuesday were Richard and Bronwen Partridge of Brighton, England. The Partridges were lured to the Bay Area by cheap plane tickets. They said they have seen a very different San Francisco since their last visit four years ago, but were enjoying the countryside of West Marin.
Veteran park rangers Loretta Farley and Rod Torrez said that things seem quite normal in Point Reyes. They said that right after the attacks, people who couldn’t leave the Bay Area because of delayed flights chose to spend their spare time visiting the National Seashore.
They also said that school groups, which make up a large number of weekday visitors have remained steady in numbers.
Good weather has helped
Park officials and workers in West Marin travel services all said that the number of visitors is directly related to the good coastal weather last weekend and early this week.
While park officials seem confident that their flow of visitors will remain steady, businesses catering to tourists are hesitant to predict what future business will be like.
Many told The Light that a combination of factors – fear of more attacks, the slow economy, and the change of seasons – has lead to a great deal of uncertainty.
"I’m trying to get a feel for the future," said Point Reyes Seashore Lodge manager Greg Cockcroft, "Maybe folks will be staying closer to home. It’s sort of like trying to read the stock market when you try to read the tourism industry."
Effect on government budgets
While individual businesses might be affected, Supervisor Steve Kinsey said that county funds will not diminish due to any possible reduction in tourists spending nights here. Kinsey said less than half a percent of the county’s budget comes from the Transit Occupancy Tax, a 10 percent tax collected on all overnight lodging fees. Even a great decline in tourist visits, he said, would have only a small effect on the county’s ability to operate.
Kinsey did however say that a slowing economy further affected by the Sept. 11 attacks could cause a decline in state funds, which make up 25 percent of the county budget.