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Ocean City Sees More Visitors, But For Not As Long

June 1, 2010
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Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan (left) with Rodney (right), the official "spokesguard" for Ocean City. Rodney is "rescuing" a woman from boredom at her job and taking her to Ocean City for some fun.
Matt Bush
Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan (left) with Rodney (right), the official "spokesguard" for Ocean City. Rodney is "rescuing" a woman from boredom at her job and taking her to Ocean City for some fun.

By Matt Bush

Heavier travel over the holiday weekend in the D.C. region could be one sign that the economy is improving. As the economy went south the past two years, visitors to Ocean City, Maryland actually went up.

Mayor Rick Meehan attributes that to his town's affordability and proximity to three major cities. But he adds the economy did change the way people traveled, and in turn affected the businesses in Ocean City.

Meehan says condominiums were affected most, as their owners started offering mini-week rentals of three or four days to entice travelers.

"Not everybody today can take that whole week off, or two weeks off that we could when we were younger. Both parents are typically working, and kids today. Try to find some family that doesn't have their kids in soccer camp, baseball camp, football camp," says Meehan.

Meehan expects more than 4 million people to travel to Ocean City this year between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

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