Atlantic City visitation last year was the lowest since the early 1980s, according to a new report from the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism at Stockton University, reports The Press of Atlantic City.
Stockton University is a public undergraduate and graduate university headquartered in New Jersey seaside resort city.
Visit-trips to Atlantic City in 2017 were 24.1 million, a 1.2 percent decrease over the previous year’s 24.4 million. The 2017 total marks the lowest visit-trip figure since 1982, when there were 22.9 million visit-trips.
In 1987, the city saw annual visit-trips top 30 million and stay above that mark until 2010.
Statistical data for the study came from transportation information collected by the South Jersey Transportation Authority and other data points.
The anticipated 2018 opening of two casino hotel properties, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Ocean Resort, and the expected addition of several new entertainment and tourist attractions are expected to improve the 2018 outlook for the resort city, now suffering from major casino/resort competition in nearby Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.