Poll: Most Jersey Residents Gearing Up For Summer Down The Shore

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - With Memorial Day weekend around the corner, New Jerseyans are overwhelmingly planning their Jersey Shore summer vacations this year despite the impact from superstorm Sandy, according to a new poll.

The AAA Clubs of New Jersey conducted the 'Jersey Shore Travel Poll' earlier this month to gauge New Jersey residents' travel intentions this summer and to see whether Sandy impacted those plans.

"We are very happy to announce that 79 percent of Shore travelers are saying that Sandy did not alter their travel plans," Tracy Noble, a spokeswoman with AAA Mid-Atlantic told WCBS 880. "They are going to be traveling to the Jersey Shore as usual. We found that 71 percent of respondents believe that the Jersey Shore will be open for summer travelers, with 75 percent of those folks believing that the ocean and bay water will be safe for swimming and boating, which is a big relief to the Jersey Shore communities."

Half of those polled said they would make an effort to visit Jersey Shore towns impacted by the storm this summer to help increase tourism and support local businesses.

"We did see a minor shift in travel patterns for this year where in years past, folks would typically take longer stay vacations. Because of rental property damage and the like, we are expecting people to take more day trips this year, with 20 percent of those who are planning on taking day trips making over six day trips throughout the summer," Noble told WCBS 880.

Two-thirds of respondents said they consider themselves to be regular shore visitors and the majority of them said they are planning to spend the same amount of time or more down the shore this summer.

"New Jerseyans have a fierce pride and loyalty to their communities, to the Jersey Shore and they are not going to let the storm get them down. There are some areas that were harder hit than others, which will be rebuilding and those rebuilding efforts will be continuing throughout the summer," Noble said.

For those who have had to alter they typical travel plans, the most popular response was to visit another Jersey Shore town rather than travel out of state, the poll found.

The telephone survey was conducted among a sample of 600 New Jersey residents and 200 Philadelphia Collar County residents in May 2013. The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 3.46 percent.

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