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JONES: Vacationers up, market down |
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Saturday, 09 August 2008 |
If the economy is affecting vacationers this summer, it was difficult to know that judging solely by the number of vehicles — yes, many SUVs — jamming the two-lane highway that runs parallel to the Gulf Coast in the Florida Panhandle.
Rush hour in a major metropolitan area might be comparable at times. It wasn’t that way all the time, but a friend said it took him 40 minutes to travel 17 miles early one afternoon.
Anyway, the point is that many people are continuing to vacation this summer away from their home states, even though Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and a few other states are spending big advertising dollars promoting stay-at-home vacations.
The consensus among the folks in the Panhandle was that if the economy continues to see-saw over the next six to nine months, then next summer’s vacation season could be noticeably different for cities like Destin, Fort Walton, Pensacola, Gulf Shores and other places that depend almost exclusively on vacation dollars.
John Toombs is a native of Jonesboro. He and his wife, Ange, a native of Paragould, are now property managers in the Destin area. They manage condominiums and houses — rental properties for owners who get a return on their investments by leasing the properties to vacationers. The Toombses have been doing this for two years.
Real estate people in the Panhandle say the market is down anywhere from 15 to 30 percent because hardly anyone is buying. John said the rental market is flooded, which explains the furious marketing competition among property management companies to push their accommodations.
“This area has grown considerably in the last 10 to 20 years,” John said. “But there’s a problem for some people. If you bought property say, 10 years ago, with the idea of doing timeshare or vacation rentals, you might be wealthy right now. If you bought property say, two or three years ago, you’re hurting. There’s too much property to go around now.”
Any other seasonal differences?
“Yes,” John said. “There hasn’t been much drop in the number of people vacationing, but many people are booking their vacations later now, waiting until the last minute. They want to make absolutely sure they can leave, and they want to make sure the weather is going to be OK. A lot of people are hurricane shy anymore.”
Makes sense, especially when you can better realize the enormity of a hurricane when you are on the coast. For instance, Hurricane Dolly hit the coastline between the southwestern portion of Texas and Mexico, but the effects were plenty noticeable hundreds of miles away in the Panhandle for a day or so.
The surf was rougher, the winds were stiffer, and there was a day when the jellyfish were so plentiful that no one stuck so much as a toe in the water. Waist-deep water was littered with the darlings, each about the size of a saucer.
Then, poof! The next day, hardly a trace of jellyfish. A few here and there. The surf was not quite back to normal, but getting there.
It’s difficult to fathom a storm system so large that it covers most of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf is large, you know.
• • • • •
THE TOOMBSES are good people. Very down to earth. And tickled to death to be living and working in the Panhandle.
There’s no telling how many times people have ended vacations there by saying, “Oh, I hate to leave!”
The Toombses said that every year. They didn’t want to say it anymore so they left Northeast Arkansas for the coastline, their three daughters in tow.
John worked in retail in Arkansas. He got a similar job when the family moved to the Panhandle, with the idea that he would look for a property management position.
Now, the couple, in their early 40s, manage 35 properties under the umbrella of Harmony Beach Vacations. They also own a commercial cleaning company.
“When we would vacation, we would leave and ask, ‘Why do we have to leave?’” John said. “We don’t have to do either anymore.”
Whit Jones is editor of the Courier. His column appears periodically. Any opinions are those of the writer.
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