Tourism is big business in Oxnard

Nancy Lindholm

 Message from our CEO

The trends in the Oxnard tourism industry are quite sunny!

I’m fortunate to serve on the board of directors for the Oxnard Convention & Visitors Bureau. The experience affords me the opportunity to keep up with how our hoteliers are doing and what the trends are in the tourism sector of our local economy. I’m happy to report we have started 2018 on a high note!

Granted there are a lot of factors that affect hotel statistics, and certainly the Thomas fire and Montecito mudslides had a big impact on our region. But for the month of January Oxnard was on top of the occupancy rate and in second place for average daily rate. Here is the data:

Occupancy rates for January 2018

Oxnard                                    74.0
Camarillo                               73.3
Ventura                                   68.7
Thousand Oaks                   64.7
Ventura County                  69.0
Santa Barbara County    64.7
Los Angeles                           67.5

Average daily rates for January 2018

Oxnard                                  136.7
Camarillo                              108.0
Ventura                                  103.0
Thousand Oaks                  116.1
Ventura County                 126.2
Santa Barbara County    152.7
Los Angeles                           127.9

All of this hotel activity certainly impacts other businesses in Oxnard. Our restaurants, entertainment, and retail all benefit from increased hotel business. But let’s not forget about local government. The transit occupancy tax every hotel guest pays generates more than $5 million annually for the city’s coffers. That’s a substantial number and it doesn’t take into account what our hotels pay in property tax each and every year.

So next time you have out of town guests or you are planning a corporate meeting, utilize the great selection of hotels in Oxnard and generate some revenue for other local businesses and the city.

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