WYPR: Ocean City Advises Citizens To Hit the Beach Before It's Too Late (2008-06-24)

With a sinking economy and soaring gas prices threatening summer vacation plans, merchants and elected officials in Ocean City have launched pre-emptive strikes to keep those tourist dollars coming. WYPR's Joel McCord reports as part of The Crunch, our occasional series on the economy.

The commercial opens with that 1950s looking test pattern and a high pitched squeal
then dissolves to a grainy shot of Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan looking off-camera, waiting for a signal to start.

Fellow citizens, this is Rick Meehan, mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, USA, planet earth.

In the most earnest tones he warns that a recent study in a British scientific journal predicts that the world's oceans will dry up in a billion years as the sun's gravitational pull draws the earth ever closer. And that can only mean one thing.

As such we are advising citizens to book their Ocean City get-away now, before the ocean evaporates.

Meehan says city officials, concerned about the effects of a lagging economy on a town that depends on tourist dollars, were looking to expand beyond their traditional markets. This ad ran in prime time on television stations into New York.

We knew we needed to do something that was a little bit different in all those major markets in prime time to grab people's attention. And this worked.

The ad has gotten more than 50,000 hits on You Tube, uncounted hits on the city's web sites and drawn the attention of radio stations as far away as Seattle and the Fox television network. That was the first goal, Meehan said.

And number two, to remind them to take a seat back and remember what's really important. And what's really important is your family, your friends, remembering to take that family vacation before the summer passes you by. That's what the message is.

At the same, the city is organizing free weekly events, movies on the beach, bonfires, concerts and so forth to give visitors something to do that doesn't cost money. Melanie Pursel, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, says hotels also are offering incentives, including passes to various parks and discounts at other local businesses.

So even if you come to Ocean City and it does maybe cost you a little bit more to get down here, it really is going to even out for you because of all the free events that we have, the family events, and they are a lot of fun and it's just a great time.

The effort seems to be having some affect. Marlene Bradford, an agent at Central Reservations, says business so far is ahead of last year.

There are still last minute reservation people, people looking for deals, but overall we're ahead of last year. August is pretty much filled up. We're still working on some July weeks, but August is pretty much filled up.

While the rental business appears to be holding up, sales have dropped off sharply, says Linda Westerside, an agent for Re-Max.

Three years ago we were telling buyers you pay what the seller's asking or you're not going to get it. But we only had 300 properties on the market. Today we've got 3,000 properties on the market.

And that kind of glut has ripple effects throughout Ocean City's economy.

Mortgage people, title companies, people that sell building supplies, real estate agents. If we're not making money we can't certainly go out and invest in things and feel secure we're going to have the money down the road.

While local merchants and city officials say their outlook is good, they might wonder whether this is a bad omen: the Maryland State Fireman's Association Parade last week was only about half as long as usual because many companies couldn't afford the gas to put their big rigs on display.

Still, that British scientific journal report was legitimate, so you might want to heed Mayor Meehan's warning.

So, book your Ocean City getaway now before our planet spirals to a vaporous death. 01:00

I'm Joel McCord, reporting in Ocean City for 88.1, WYPR.