2013 New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches Survey Sets Aside Competitive Focus to Support Beach Tourism
(Sandy Hook, NJ) — Despite the devastating blows Sandy dealt many beach communities last fall, the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium (NJSGC) is coordinating a cooperative effort among regional tourism leaders that will put a non-competitive focus on its popular, annual New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches project to help promote Shore tourism for the summer of 2013.
In 2008, the New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches Survey was created by NJSGC and the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center to encourage stewardship and pride in the state’s beaches while promoting a little healthy competition among New Jersey’s favorite beach towns. The voting traditionally opens up on the New Jersey Top Ten beaches web site in mid- to late February and continues through the end of April. The results of the survey are announced each year just before Memorial Day weekend at the NJSGC’s State of the Shore Media Event, a premier gathering of coastal experts, State officials, and members of the news media, to kick off the Jersey Shore summer.
According to Kim Kosko, Director of Communications for NJSGC, “In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the project will put rivalry on hold for 2013 and instead celebrate everything there is to still love about the Jersey Shore. From a calendar photo contest to sharing favorite Shore memories, we’ll invite people to be a part of celebrating New Jersey’s beach communities and recognizing what makes them all so memorable and special.”
Shore communities, state and local businesses, and tourism groups are on board with the project’s revised focus in 2013. Sponsors include Spark Market Solutions, LLC, Seaside Heights Business Improvement District, New Jersey Natural Gas, Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce, Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority, Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum, Monmouth County Tourism, Cape May County Department of Tourism, Belmar Tourism Commission, Atlantic County Tourism, Bradley Beach Tourism Board, and the Jersey Shore Visitors’ and Convention Bureau. To learn more about this year’s project, which will launch officially on February 20, visit the New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches website at njtoptenbeaches.org.
The New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium is an affiliation of colleges, universities and other groups dedicated to advancing knowledge and stewardship of New Jersey’s marine and coastal environment. NJSGC meets its mission through its innovative research, education and outreach programs. For more information, visit NJSGC on the web at njseagrant.org or on social media at facebook.com/NJSeaGrant and twitter.com/NJSeaGrant.