LESS ROOM AT THE INNS
Occupancy rates at Atlanta hotels are on the rise. Here are the numbers over the last five years.
2014 - 71 percent
2013 - 67 percent
2012 - 66 percent
2011 - 63 percent
2010 - 64 percent
Source: Smith Travel Research (STR)
If visitors keep flocking to metro Atlanta at the same pace they have so far this year, 2015 could be a repeat of 1995.
On any given night, two-thirds of hotels from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to the Perimeter area are booked, metro Atlanta hospitality leaders say, citing data from Smith Travel Research. In July, occupancy hit a high of 80 percent.
The last time the area’s hotel rooms were that packed, Bill Clinton was president, the Braves were winning a World Series and the 1996 Summer Olympics loomed. It was 1995 and hotel occupancy hit 70.7 percent.
Occupancy is expected to end this year just a shade below, at 70.1 percent, up four points from last year.
A tightening market could spur hotel construction, said Mark Woodworth, senior managing director of consulting firm PKF Hospitality. While about 800 rooms have been put in the pipeline in the last few years, Atlanta has lagged other cities in construction, growing a paltry 0.7 percent in the last year.
One reason, Woodworth said, is that construction of new stadiums for the Falcons and Braves has commanded much of the concrete and other building materials in the area.
The slow growth in capacity could be boosting occupancy rates, but civic leaders hope the rise also means metro Atlanta is becoming a destination city without the benefit of one-off events like world series and Olympic preparations.
That’s always been a tough goal for Atlanta, which lacks natural features like a downtown waterfront, the distinctive skyline of New York and Chicago, or as many historical sites as Boston, Washington or Philadelphia. Its strength leans more toward regional business travel and conventions.
In recent years, though, the city has stitched together a handful of new attractions around Centennial Olympic Park to augment both the convention business and tourist standbys such as Stone Mountain and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Atlanta’s current pace of hotel bookings means people are sticking around for more than a day, a boost to the already 48 million that come here annually.
“We’re on a great trajectory,” said William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The city has a lot of momentum.”
Visitors matter
Metro Atlanta’s $14 billion hospitality business fills the coffers of restaurants, attractions and the tax base. Florists, napkin makers and taxis depend on a robust visitor turnout and with the nation’s fourth-largest convention center — the Georgia World Congress Center — attracting visitors is crucial.
The surge of the past three years is a switch from the recession years, when reaching 50 percent occupancy was cause for celebration.
“Business should stay healthy for the rest of the year,” said Mark Woodworth, senior managing director of PKF Hospitality, an industry consulting firm. “The key is the convention calendar remains strong.”
Not all the news is rosy. Convention attendance is rebounding nationally, including at the GWCC, which saw around 862,000 turn out for meetings at its downtown Atlanta facility in fiscal 2014 compared to around 813,000 the year before. That attendance is still short of the GWCC’s peak of 1.2 million attendees in 2003.
Some people in the tourism business worry that a controversial Religious Freedom that stalled in last year’s legislative session could thwart their progress. The bill, sponsored by Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, asserts that government has to show a compelling interest for why its policy should override an individual’s religious freedom. It uses much of the same language as federal legislation that Congress passed in 1993 and then-President Clinton signed.
Opponents have said the bill would open the door to discrimination against the gay community and would drive away visitors. They point to two surveys of meeting planners in which 45 percent of respondents said they would cancel a meeting if a destination passes a law that attendees found offensive.
McKoon contends his bill is no different than legislation passed in Texas, Florida and Louisiana, none of which have seen a downturn in visitation. He noted that Florida, which he said has a similar law, hit a record 97 million tourists in 2014.
No surprise
Will Ramsey, vice president of sales for the Georgia Aquarium, is not surprised by the occupancy or visitation numbers. He thinks Atlanta’s buildup of attractions around Centennial Park has taken hold, especially as the word gets out to convention planners who haven’t been to Atlanta in years.
The ACVB said that 19 meetings booked in 2015 were of groups that have not been here in more than a decade. That is up from 15 such groups in 2014.
“It’s really fun to have meeting planners who haven’t been here in a while see all that has happened around Centennial Olympic Park,” said Ramsey.
However, no destination, including the aquarium, can rest on its laurels, he said.
The downtown fish tank is bringing back the sea lions that were displaced two years ago for a dolphins exhibit meant to boost attendance. Now it’s the sea lions turn, who will get a new exhibit and stage act of their own in a theater that may seat up to 500.
“Our goal is to always grow,” he said.
Kristina Torres contributed to this story.
