Sea Isle Sets New Record for Beach Tag Revenue

Those tiny pieces of plastic known as beach tags generated some big money for Sea Isle City this summer.

Sea Isle benefited from the sultry weather and a price increase to pull in a record amount of beach tag revenue during what was a strong summer tourism season.

Overall, beach tag sales between Memorial Day and Labor Day produced about $1,727,000 in total revenue, Sea Isle Chief Financial Officer Jennifer McIver said.

That figure easily eclipsed Sea Isle’s previous record of $1,471,321 in beach tag sales set in 2015. Beach tag revenue came in at $1,393,340 in 2023.

McIver explained in an interview Monday that as the temperatures rose, so did the beach tag sales this summer.

“It was so hot, there was nothing else to do but go to the beach,” she said of the scorching temperatures.

Year after year, beach tag revenue is a closely watched economic indicator of the strength of the vacation season at the shore. McIver characterized 2024 as a strong season.

“I think it was a successful summer for the businesses and definitely for beach tag revenue,” she said.

    Sunbathers pack the beach for the Labor Day weekend.
  

Another reason why Sea Isle’s beach tag revenue was up so significantly this summer was the higher prices. The city raised its prices in 2024 for the first time since 2011 by approving a $5 across-the-board increase for seasonal, weekly and daily tags.

Seasonal tags were $30, weeklies $15 and dailies $10, this year. Sea Isle offered a $5 discount on seasonal tags if they were purchased before May 15.

McIver said that 49,859 seasonal beach tags were sold during the summer, about the same number in 2023. The number of weekly tags sold was up, while dailies were down compared to last year.

McIver believes that some visitors simply chose to buy a weekly tag instead of a daily beach badge if they were in town for at least two days.

Revenue generated by beach tag sales is an important source of funding. It covers the cost of keeping the beaches clean, collecting the trash, employing lifeguards and hiring summer police officers.

The revenue also helps to pay for Sea Isle’s share of beach replenishment projects, including one that was completed in June in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

    Gina Karrasch holds a handful of Sea Isle beach tags up for sale.
  

Sea Isle made it more convenient for beachgoers to buy their tags this summer by introducing a new mobile app.

Beachgoers were able to use their cellphone to buy digital tags at mybeachmobile.com with a debit or credit card. The beach tags were stored on their phones.

The old-fashioned plastic beach tags could also be bought using the same app, but they had to be picked up at the places where they were available in Sea Isle.

Beachgoers continued to have the option of paying for plastic beach tags in person with cash or buying them from a beach tag inspector.

In Sea Isle, beach tags are required from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. The city continues to generate revenue in the off-season months through the sale of beach tags in autumn and then holiday-themed tags during the Christmas shopping season and then for St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day. Autumn and holiday tags will be good for the entire 2025 beach season.

Sea Isle also charges for parking during the summer season to boost its revenue. Parking revenue totaled just a little more than $302,000, slightly higher than in 2023.

“It was pretty much the same,” McIver said while comparing 2024’s parking revenue to 2023. “I think everyone is getting used to ParkMobile. I didn’t hear any complaints this year.”

Introduced in 2021, the https://parkmobile.io app is how motorists pay for parking in Sea Isle. It replaced the old parking kiosks and meters that Sea Isle has since retired.

    The ParkMobile cashless system is how motorists pay for parking in Sea Isle.