RETAIL / TOURISM : Hotels Did Better Than Expected During First Month of the Gulf War

If tourism took a hit in Orange County during the Persian Gulf War, it wasn’t a very big hit, according to monthly hotel occupancy figures released Wednesday.

Overall occupancy in a sampling of hotels throughout the county was off a meager 0.7% in January from the year-earlier month, according to Pannell Kerr Forster in Irvine. Occupancy averaged 55% for the month, down from 55.7% in January, 1990.

Hotels were fuller in the Anaheim area and in South County, both areas in which tourism is especially important. Anaheim occupancy was 56.4%, up from 54.9% in January, 1990. South County occupancy was 45%, up from 39.7% a year earlier.

The statistics cover the first month of the Persian Gulf War, when travel fell off sharply as people stayed home to watch the news or because of reports about international terrorist threats.

A Pannell Kerr Foster official said the statistics show that the slowdown in tourism may not be as severe in Orange County as first thought.

“The market didn’t end up being that bad,” said consultant Dave Krishan. “Groups and local tourists continue their way of life.”

Krishan said that if war and recession had really taken their toll, the drop would be closer to 10% or 20%. He said the strong improvement in South County hotel occupancy might not be as good as it looks; because there are fewer hotels in the South County sample, one hotel’s strong showing can skew the results.