Holiday weekend in Ocean City and its economic impact

OCEAN CITY, Md. – Local residents and business owners are already dealing with high traffic and wait times as tourists come to visit and spend their money for the 4th of July holiday weekend.

“The main reason why we are able to live and work here is because we do serve tourism.”

The tourism industry is the backbone for resort towns like Ocean City. John Fager is the owner of Fager’s Island and Bad Monkey in Ocean City.

“Without tourism, I mean we would have a fish camp here and that would be about it. We would be sending clams and oysters to Philadelphia,” Fager said. “Tourism since Ocean City was founded has always been the lifeblood of Ocean City.”

He tells us his restaurants and bars are booming with business this time of year, so much so that he’s already seeing two hour wait times at his establishments.

“These next 10 days, starting really today, are the busiest for all the businesses for the entire year,” Fager said. “It’s extremely important that everybody be ready, have all the training done and everybody geared up and ready to give all the people that come to Ocean City, so they get their money’s worth with the good experiences.”

Tourism is an ecosystem that delivers opportunity and quality of life not just to Ocean City residents, but all residents in Maryland. Greater Ocean City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Amy Thompson says tourism, to the resort town, is essential to Maryland’s economy.

“For every dollar spent on tourism, thirty-one dollars comes back to the state.”

While there are many other options for families to vacation across the region, thousands still choose Ocean City every year.  

They could be going to Delaware Beaches, they could be going to Virginia beach, the Carolinas but the town has done a fantastic job of reminding people that Ocean City is drivable to a lot of Metropolitan areas.