in our Spotlight on Business Report the shore tourism season is about to kick into high gear and experts who provide the state's annual tourism Outlook say things are looking pretty robust for the summer of 2024 with job growth picking up and the economy largely withstanding two years of rising interest rates but as Ted Goldberg reports that optimism also comes with plenty of concerns with just under 3 weeks until Memorial Day The Unofficial start of summer economic experts at Stockton University are split on their predictions for the tourism season what we booked in 23 um was the best we've ever done if you look back when it was the convention Authority we do see the volume coming in growing um and and um and and we see the interest in Atlantic City growing I mean hate to be all doom and gloom but first quarter wasn't great um I think we had a lot of weather problems um I do have concerns about the overall economy this panel spoke as part of the 16th annual short cast here at Stockton reacting to a changing economy in AC in-person gross Gaming revenue at the city's casinos was relatively flat from 2022 to last year but online betting helped total gross Gaming revenue go up 11% Daniel Gallagher works for the City Sports commission and says Sports themselves are also on the rise from the C Sports commission side of it we came off of a banner year we did you know about 75,000 room nights in sports alone which was uh you know 250,000 people in the destination and 100 million um in economic impact Mark colazo works at RMS Capital which owns these four businesses on Tennessee Avenue he was the dissenting voice on the panel if you look at just the overall macroeconomy things still look pretty good but uh I'm in the real estate business and most of the people that I work with their income cut in half or a third from from the high water mark of you know 2122 the unemployment rate is for is like a little north of 6% for Atlantic City Which is higher than the state and the nation but 6% is you know not that far from where we were pre- pandemic you know uh and it hasn't you know gone crazy one possible way to attract more people to come to AC is for the city to host more concerts especially around its Boardwalk but experts warn that's not a silver bullet for Atlantic City and in fact it may not even be feasible if I'm the the the management of Aerosmith buy the show for 2 million right so I'm the promoter now Boardwalk call is a promoter can you make money on $2 million in Boardwalk call with 12,000 seats probably not another hurdle for Atlantic City is a possible Convention Center being built in the meals which could siphon Away business from all the groups that come to the convention center in AC you're going to see big events that are here you're going to lose all those they're going to go to either every other other year or they're going to break themselves up and do north and south and those events that's just as much a concern to me for our business um it's a bigger concern because you you'll lose a third of that you'll lose a third of that million people that that market generates the meetings trade show and events Market Sports all of that is a million people a year to this city on the optimistic side Gallagher says Rising airfare costs could make Atlantic City more attractive as a vacation destination where located geographically I think actually supports that we're going to see a great summer because to your point people are are going are willing to get in the car and drive are they willing to get on an airplane and fly and you know pay all those ridiculous fees that come along with that whoever isn't willing to do that could stop by AC this summer a city looking for new ways to bring in visitors in Atlantic City I'm Ted Goldberg and J Spotlight news support for the business report is provided by Riverview Jazz Pres the 11th annual Jersey City Jazz Festival May 29th to June 2nd event details including performance schedules and locations are online at Jersey City jazz festival.com