That is where the spring "shoulder season" comes in. And it is now happening earlier than ever.
Officials agree that tourism during the shoulder seasons - before the actual tourism crunch kicks in around Memorial Day and after Labor Day has signaled summer's swan song - is playing a greater role in the economic success of any given year. By extending the traditional Shore season, merchants and municipalities stand to do a little better, come rain or come shine.
That is why preseason events, such as this weekend's 13th Cape May Jazz Festival and next weekend's DooDah Parade in Ocean City, have become as ubiquitous at the Shore as the Night in Venice boat parade and Christmas in July celebrations traditionally held at the height of the summer.
Noreen Bodman, director of the state Division of Travel and Tourism, said the shoulder seasons had become "extremely important to the state's travel and tourism industry" and were constantly expanding because of the diversity of entertainment options in New Jersey.
"We have everything from 24-hour gambling, to fishing and canoeing on scenic waterways, to great theater and museums," Bodman said. "I think there is a new climate in the tourism industry to push harder to make the public aware that the Jersey Shore really is a year-around destination."
A Rovelstad Associates-Longwoods International study released last month at the Governor's Conference on Tourism reported that New Jersey tourism figures were 6 percent higher in 1999 than in the previous year, making travel a $27.7 billion part of the state's economy.
An estimated $14.6 billion of that came from the coast, which the study designated the Greater Atlantic City, Shore, and Southern Shore regions. The remaining $13.1 billion came from what the study called the Skylands, Gateway and Delaware River regions.
At the tourism conference, Gov. Whitman even called last year's tourism season a "come-hell-or-high-water" proposition.
