By DORIS COOK - Staff Writer
Star Beacon
GENEVA-ON-THE-LAKE — The county-owned Geneva State Park Lodge and Conference Center has helped a growing tourism industry in Ashtabula County, according to a recent survey study done by Ohio State University Extension Service specialists.
An impact study conduced in 2006 by OSU Extension specialist Frank Lichtkoppler was paid for with a $1,500 OSU Sea Grant.
Lichtkoppler released the study summary to the public at a press conference at the lodge Wednesday.
Of 1,600 survey forms sent to people who stayed or visited the lodge during 2006, more than half were returned, Lichtkoppler said. He said getting this many returns was surprising to the staff, which did the survey with him. Marc Hnytka, an OSU student majoring in economics, and Brent Sohngen, an OSU economics professor, worked with Lichtkoppler on the project.
Attending the lodge event briefings were members of the county’s Convention Facilities Authority board, county commissioners Daniel Claypool and Deborah Newcomb, along with Kevin Kelly, president of lodge manager Delaware North Cos. Parks and Resorts Inc.
Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County executive director Joseph Mayernick introduced the speakers. That organization helped host the event.
“It’s a good day to celebrate our (growing ) tourism industry in the county,” Mayernick said. Kelly spoke briefly to the group about increases in occupancy at the hotel and its projected profit for the year. He said the occupancy rate for the lodge is 7 percent ahead of 2006.
“We are building a base here. We’re here to continue this trend,” Kelly said. He thanked county officials and the public for their support and patronage.
Former county commissioner Robert Boggs requested earlier this year that OSU Extension economics specialists undertake the tourism survey, Lichtkoppler said. Using lists of visitors provided from the lodge operator., the survey focused on the number of trips individuals made to the county and the northeast Ohio region in general.
With a PowerPoint presentation, Lichtkoppler explained: “Most trips (75 percent) were overnight, and most (people) traveled with another person. Average total expenditures per trip is estimated at $393.35, but expenditures for the modal (most frequent) respondent fall in the $100 to $299 range.”
Total trip expenditures by the survey respondents ranged from $5.5 million to $10.9 million per year on all items. Top three categories of how people spent their money included 55.8 percent on lodging, 24.7 percent at restaurants, and 7.2 percent on transportation, he said.
Lichtkoppler said that the Geneva lodge is the only lakefront resort hotel between Cleveland and Erie.
“Some of the leads we gathered in the survey can lead to better marketing of this facility,” he told the group.
Ashtabula County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Mark Winchell also plugged the tremendous impact of the lodge and spin-off to other county businesses since the hotel opened in 2004. Using figures from a 2005 economic study on Ashtabula County tourism, Winchell said, “We doubled in numbers for tourism-related jobs, from 4,100 in 1999 to 5,600 in 2005.”
Winchell said tourism-related businesses generated $295 million for the local economy. “Travel and tourism (here are) real jobs and money,” he added.
The OSU study showed 75.4 percent of visitors coming to the lodge and county were Ohioans and another 14.4 percent from Pennsylvania. Trumbull, Mahoning and Summit counties were the county home bases of many visitors.
Lichtkoppler noted the study respondents generally had higher incomes than average, were older than average, household sizes were larger and were guests had higher education than average. The survey also revealed that visitors made more than one trip to the lodge and area in a year.
