Boston Tourism Industry is Seeing Green; Big Spike after Two Lackluster Years

Posted by erik devaney

Did anyone else notice the unusual abundance of tourists in Boston this summer? They were the ones wearing backpacks and fiddling with maps; the ones who were standing across the street from South Station, asking where South Station was; and in some instances, they were the ones nearly running you over while taking Segway tours of downtown.

 

The numbers are in and they indicate that tourism in the Boston area rebounded this year after two years of less-than-stellar summers. San Francisco-based consulting firm for the hospitality industry, PKF Consulting Inc., recently published a report showing that hotel occupancy percentages — as well as room rates — were higher this June in comparison to June 2010. Let’s take a look at some of the report’s findings:

Greater Boston Hotel Occupancy

• June 2010: 83.7%
• June 2011: 86.9%

Route 128 Hotel Occupancy

• June 2010: 79.7%
• June 2011: 88.7%

Greater Boston Average Daily Room Rate

• June 2011: $190.69
• Percentage increase from 2010: 6.8%

Route 128 Average Daily Room Rate

• June 2011: $108.67
• Percentage increase from 2010: 10.5%

 

While these statistics say a lot about the amount of people who visited the Boston area this summer, they say nothing about who these people were and what they were doing. So let’s delve into the minds of some of the visitors who made this summer’s tourism rebound possible.

David Rodeck of Hockessin, Delaware took the train up to Boston this summer for his first-ever visit to the Hub. His motivation: beer and clam chowder.

“One of the first things I did when I got to Boston was drink a Samuel Adams and have a bowl of chowder,” he said. “Boston is well-known for its food, its nightlife and its history… it’s one of those U.S. cities that everyone needs to see at least once, like New York and Washington D.C.”

Covering a considerably greater distance to reach the Hub was Isabelle Senesi of Los Altos, California, who made two separate trips to Boston this summer. “Living in California is great,” she said, “but in Boston you have this European atmosphere.”

Prior to this summer, Senesi hadn’t visited Boston since before the Big Dig, so part of what drew her back was seeing the new Lenny Zakim Bridge and the Rose Kennedy Greenway. However, based on how Senesi spent her time in the city, perhaps the greater draw was all of the activities she could participate in and all of the places she could visit.

Examples of what Senesi did on her two trips to Boston this summer include kayaking on the Charles River, walking through Boston Common, having an ice cream at Faneuil Hall, walking the Freedom Trail, visiting the Old North Church, seeing Blue Man Group, visiting the JFK Library, having a cappuccino and a cannoli in the North End and — last but not least — “savoring a lobster roll in a little bistro on Charles Street.”

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