Monmouth County Freeholders and tourism partners put a bow on the 2019 summer tourism season Tuesday on the boardwalk at Pier Village in Long Branch where they recapped an impressive year.

“We are excited to announce that we had a record-breaking summer tourism season, with more than $23.7 million in beach revenue from Monmouth County,” Freeholder Director Tom Arnone, liaison to the Department of Public Information and Tourism, said. “The County has received an incredible amount of positive feedback from municipalities, businesses, residents and visitors who all enjoyed the benefits of the beautiful weather we had this summer.”

County officials say the 2019 beach revenue of $23.7 million is an 11% increase from 2018 beach revenue, which was approximately $21 million.

Towns that had the largest growth in revenue include Sea Bright with a 28% increase, Manasquan with a 24% increase and Asbury Park with a 20% increase.

“The weather plays such an important role in our summer tourism season and we were fortunate that it rained only two weekends this summer, in comparison to rain on 11 summer weekends in 2018,” Arnone said. “The warm temperatures and sunny skies brought visitors from near and far to Monmouth County for day trips, weekend trips and family vacations.”

Arnone says another factor that contributed to the success of the summer tourism season was the cost of gasoline where in the Northeast, gas prices in summer 2019 were .22 to .55 cents cheaper than they were in 2018.

He cited numbers from AAA which found that the national gas price average during Labor Day weekend was the cheapest in three years.

“While gas prices and the weather do affect the numbers each year, they cannot take all of the credit for all of the success,” Arnone said. “It is important to acknowledge the hard work and the successful marketing campaigns put forth by our municipalities and tourism partners, which are a true driving force behind the record-breaking revenues.”

For more information about Monmouth County happenings, go to tourism.visitmonmouth.com and follow Monmouth County Tourism on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

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