By Donald Wittkowski
The throngs of tourists who flock to South Jersey’s beach communities every summer often come from the North.
While it may be easy to assume that means North Jersey, many of the visitors who vacation at Cape May County’s oceanfront resorts actually live north of the border. No, not the New Jersey-New York border. Canada is more like it.
Now, Canada’s infatuation with Cape May County as a vacation hotspot will be showcased in five shows of a 13-episode Quebec Travel Channel “Go to the Beach” series scheduled to air in the fall of 2018.
Although the series will be shown only in Canada, depriving Americans of the chance to see it, local tourism officials are ecstatic over the free publicity Cape May County will receive in a major international market. An estimated 1.8 million households in Quebec are expected to watch each episode.
“We couldn’t possibly buy this type of publicity. It’s unbelievable,” said Christie Ostrander, a Cape May County Department of Tourism representative who has been working with the Quebec Travel Channel on the project.
The series will feature five episodes on Cape May, Wildwood, North Wildwood, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle City and Ocean City. Cape May, Wildwood and North Wildwood will each have their own episode. Avalon and Stone Harbor will be grouped together in one episode, as will Sea Isle and Ocean City.
A Quebec Travel Channel crew was in Sea Isle on Thursday for the last round of interviews and filming for the series. Mayor Leonard Desiderio chaperoned the crew around in a surrey cart along the oceanfront Promenade to showcase Sea Isle’s attractions.
“It’s been nice coverage. It will be good for Cape May County,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
One tourist-friendly spot that will be featured in the Sea Isle episode is Fish Alley, the historic enclave of family-owned restaurants and fishing boats lining the bayfront along Park Road.
Mike Monichetti, owner of the iconic Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant, has a red-and-white Canadian flag flying in the front of his business to greet his international customers. Monichetti was interviewed by the Quebec Travel Channel.
“I want the Canadian people to see that they are welcomed in Sea Isle City. We appreciate them being here,” he said in an interview with Seaislenews.com.
Monichetti noted that 2017 has been one of the strongest summers in memory for Canadian tourism in Sea Isle, rebounding from a lackluster 2016 season that was dampened by the low exchange rate for Canadian currency against the U.S. dollar.
“The last time we saw this many Canadians was in the early to mid-1990s,” Monichetti said. “Last year was one of the worst years. This year is one of the best in recent history.”
This summer, the exchange rate for Canadian currency has risen, prompting a flood of Canadian visitors into Cape May County. Diane Wieland, director of the county’s tourism department, said more than 100,000 Canadians spend their vacations in the beach communities spread across Cape May County. Most come from Quebec Province.
Overall, Canadians represent about 10 percent of the total number of visitors to Cape May County, generating an estimated $139 million in economic output, Wieland noted.
“When they’re not here, we know it,” she said, referring to the disappointing 2016 summer season for Canadian tourism. “But when they are here, I’ll hear people speaking French in the Acme.”
Cape May County’s allure for Canadian tourists dates back to 1968. It was then that the county began marketing itself to Canadians as a vacation destination. Those efforts continue at full steam today, including a Canadian travel consultant who represents Cape May County in Montreal.
“Our county tourism office has been working with the Canadians forever. We always had this important relationship with them,” Ostrander said.
Marieve Ledoux, who is coordinating the “Go to the Beach” series for the Quebec Travel Channel, explained that Canadian vacationers are enamored with Cape May County’s resorts primarily for one reason.
“Because the water is warm,” she said, laughing. “In Canada, the water is very cold.”
Canadians also like taking road trips for their summer vacations, so the abundance of campgrounds in the Cape May County mainland communities surrounding the beach towns is another draw, Ledoux pointed out.
“We like camping out, as well as going to the beach,” she said.
Wieland said the camping experience offers an affordable travel experience for Canadian families. Yet there is a growing number of Canadian vacationers who prefer to stay at seashore hotels and rental properties, allowing them to spread out beyond the campgrounds, she said.
“That has brought more of them into the towns,” Wieland said. “They are looking for different types of lodging options.”
While Wieland and other members of the county tourism department may be concentrating on lodging trends and other esoteric aspects of the travel market, Monichetti said he knows exactly what drives Canadians to the Jersey Shore, particularly Sea Isle City.
“Canadians love fresh seafood,” he said. “They are very knowledgeable. Make no mistake about it, Canadians know their seafood.”
