It was good news for the coastal economy over the Memorial Day weekend.
Carol Everhart, president and CEO of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce says the occupancy rate for beach area hotels and motels was at 99 percent.
“It was one of the worst winters recorded for the East Coast and we saw as a result of that, a tremendous increase. In the first quarter of last year we provided 20 plus thousand visitor guides to people requesting information. This year that figure was over 40 thousand.”
Everhart adds the economic impact for Delaware’s beach businesses is huge.
“Every day visitor, very conservatively, puts one hundred dollars per person per day into the economy and every overnight, very conservatively, puts about 200 and you’re looking at a minimum of 45 million dollars into the local economy for this weekend.”
Home and condo rentals were also up 50 percent over last year.
Last Thursday, AAA projected the highest travel volume in ten years for the Memorial Day weekend due to low gas prices.
DelDOT toll plaza counts last year showed Friday as the busiest day on both I-95 and Route 1, followed by Monday. On both days in 2014, over 100 thousand vehicles went through the I-95 Plaza in Newark.