Our Proposal:
| SOME EXAMPLES FROM OTHER BEACHES |
On the previous web page we outlined our proposal to increase the number of beachgoers at Bates Beach in Carpinteria by extending the bus lines and partnering with the local business merchants and hotels to attract new customers. We suggested the fastest way to increase revenue was to consider reinstating the clothing-optional section at the northern end of Bates, which what nude for nearly 50 years until 2000. We know there are skeptics reading this who refuse to think outside their own comfort zone, and who do not believe the nudist community has the bucks to make much of a difference in local tax revenue. We provide you with the facts below. To read about the results of our local polling in Santa Barbara to this idea, go to the "C-O Area" section of this website.
  Bare Necessities' annual nude cruises to the Carribean, Alaska, and to Mexico are consistent sellouts. The April, 2010 cruise from San Diego to Hawaii sold out all of its 3100 tickets. Palm Springs' 10 nudist hotels and resorts bring millions in revenue to that city each year.
Worldwide Nudist Tourist
1992….. $120 million/year |
An International Viewpoint:
This national business magazine did a revealing expose on the high flying nudist tourist industry and marvelled how, despite the current economic downturn, it has grown quickly over the past decade (especially among baby-boomers) to become a force that destination locations and transportation officials dare not ignore.
The article quotes Castaways Travel, a Spring, Tex.-based travel agency as claiming they sold 70% of the charter plane's 172 seats in just five days for a nude airplane trip from Miami to Cancun. The flight costs passengers $499 round trip and they stayed at the El Dorado Resort and Spa, where room prices start at $910 per week.
Nude cruises are also taking it off. For the second year in a row, Carnival is offering a clothing-optional cruise on its 2,000-passenger ship Ecstasy. Other cruise lines offering similar cruises include Cunard and Windstar (both owned by Carnival), as well as privately held Star Clippers.
Hollywood, Fla.-based International Lifestyles is the parent company of Super Clubs, which runs some of the best-known clothing-optional resorts in the Caribbean, such as Hedonism II and III, as well as the five-star Grand Lido, and the Breezes chain of resorts. Super Clubs' vice president David Hancock is quoted in the article as saying that business has been so good that International Lifestyles opened three new resorts under the Breezes chain last year. "The nude market is very strong, and we are definitely looking to expand into Mexico and other Caribbean areas," he says.
Dr. George R. Harker, a former professor at Western Illinois University based in Hawaii, calculated the economic impact of transforming a nude beach. Kaloko-Honokohau, a former nude beach on the island of Hawaii, was converted back to a traditional beach in late 1998. Harker, citing the Hawaii Travel Authority statistics, says that in January 1999, the island of Hawaii had a 4% drop in visitors, while the rest of the state saw an increase. "I can't think of any other reason for the drop in visitors than the closing of the nude beach," says Harker. "The 4% decline in visitors translates to 2,873 people, who on average spend $1,700 apiece on hotels and food. His estimation is that closing the beach costs the local economy $4,941,904 per year.
Click here to read the entire article (pdf format.)
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This is the one segment of the tourist business not affected by this recession! Worldwide, nudist tourists spend money!
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California Nudist Tourist Dollars: Black’s Beach, San Diego, CA
Source: A 2007 survey of Black's Beachgoers by the San Diego Tribune:
- Black's Beach gets 325,000 beach visitors per year.
- 25% of those visitors are from outside Southern California.
- 6% of those tourists visited other city attractions and spent 2 or more days in a local hotel.
The bottom line:
Black’s Beach estimated contribution to the local San Diego economy in 2007
The Black's Beach Bares (the "beach watch" team on that beach) conducted their own survey in July 2008, which confirms the above numbers.
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Haulover Beach maintains an Information Center for its 1.3 million beachgoers each year. The secret: Beach Ambassadors make sure all understand proper beach etiquette and behavior guidelines. |
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