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Oceanside sees wave of tourism

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Oceanside is expecting another big wave of tourists to hit its shores this summer, making the season golden for city coffers and continuing an upward swell that has been building for the past few years.

Vacationers spent an estimated $271 million in Oceanside last year, compared to $201 million in 2010, according to a recent report by Dean Runyan Associates that was commissioned by Visit Oceanside, the city’s tourism agency.

During the same five-year period, the number of local jobs related to tourism increased from 2,350 to 2,920, according to the report.

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Officials say the growth is a warm welcome, after tourism cooled a bit during the Great Recession.

“The last few of years we’ve been up across the board,” said Leslee Gaul, president of Visit Oceanside. “.. We’re a good value and a good place for a beach vacation — and our food, dining and brew scene is really helping to put us on the map.”

The improving economy has helped fuel the growth, but the city has done its part by luring popular sporting events like surfing competitions, the Ironman triathlon and the Race Across America, Gaul said.

Infrastructure improvements, such as the SoCal Sports Complex — a sports park that a can accommodate up to 22 soccer fields for weekend tournaments — have also attracted athletes and their families.

All those efforts are paying off, officials said.

Hotel tax revenues this fiscal year are expected to reach about $5 million — a significant increase from the $3.2 million in fiscal year 2009-10 — and are projected to reach about $6 million next year.

The city can accommodate the growing crowds because of several new hotels have that have opened since 2010, including the SpringHill Suites on North Byers Street, a block from the downtown beach. And more hotels are underway, including an eight-story beachfront resort that will be built across the way, near the city’s iconic municipal pier.

Oceanside has a total of 1,930 hotel rooms available for guests, as well as roughly 500 short-term vacation rentals. In a few years, the number of rooms could reach over 3,000 with about a half dozen new hotels being planned.

Downtown is also undergoing a transformation with developers turning parking lots into residential and commercial spaces. To complement those projects, the city invested about $2.5 million revitalizing Mission Avenue west of Intestate 5, one of the city’s main entrances to the downtown area, narrowing the road and widening sidewalks to accommodate more pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

But there are some growing pains, said Rick Wright, executive director of MainStreet Oceanside.

All the construction underway is making it difficult for people to get around and visit local businesses, Wright said. He said he worries those construction projects could be push tourists toward other cities to shop and dine.

“All this construction that was put off for a decade is coming together all at once,” Wright said. “It’s just crummy timing (just as tourism is recovering).”

Despite the troubles, there is a noticeable increase in tourism, Wright said, and location is key. Oceanside is a short drive away from SeaWorld, Legoland, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and Disneyland.

To help boost tourism, Visit Oceanside launched a new branding campaign last month with the tagline “So California,” which aims to capture tourists who want to experience a Southern California beach town vacation, Gaul said.

“We have those iconic images, the pier, the beaches, the harbor, the palm trees,” Gaul said. “People want that and we’re one of the few beach communities that can still provide that beach town experience.”

The city also caught Hollywood’s eye when the producers of a new TNT series decided to film “Animal Kingdom” in various parts around town last month. If the show is a hit, it could generate even more tourism and maybe encourage other productions to film here.

“Other cities have had success with shows like ‘Breaking Bad’ in Albuquerque and the ‘CIS’ shows and look what ‘Top Gun’ (the 1986 film starring Tom Cruise and Kelly MGillis) did for Oceanside,” Gaul said. “It still amazes me the visits that we see from that.”