New Tourism Trend of Micro-trips Drives Uptick in Occupancy in Mendocino County During Critical Season

MENDOCINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mendocino County is cashing in on the new trend in micro-trips, offering travelers a rural escape hatch to unplug and reboot in a safe, short format. From Point Arena to Hopland, the network of quiet towns and vine-swept backcountry have enabled this Northern California destination to ride the wave of a pandemic and off-season doldrums with higher than usual occupancy.

“Tourism destinations are at a critical point with two key factors playing against them, a pandemic and shoulder season,” says Travis Scott, executive director of Visit Mendocino County. “Given the region’s vast geography and tapestry of diverse towns, the micro-trip trend offers plenty of room to roam for visitors, with inns focused on practicing proper CDC guidelines. This new travel trend has driven occupancy, with third quarter figures higher than 2019, hovering at 85 percent despite the County Health Department order imposing a 75 percent occupancy maximum.”

Along the Pacific, hotel properties have noted an uptick in REVPAR (revenue per available room), with the more expensive guestrooms booking first. November is on track to be the best in history for the Little River Inn, a stately 65-room inn built in 1847. “Rooms at our top level, over $350.00 per night, have been the first to sell out,” notes Cally Dym, owner. At a time when most tourism destinations are embracing new restrictions and a slow recovery, visitorship to Mendocino County, a destination of 90,000 residents sharing turf three times the size of Rhode Island, is raising more than eyebrows.

This comes as the U.S. hotel industry reported its lowest third-quarter occupancy level on record, according to the 2020 data report from STR, an industry research leader. “The absolute level declined 32.2 percent year over year to 48 percent, a marked improvement from the second-quarter decline of 52.1 percent year over year to 33.5 percent, evidence the industry is slowly recovering.” PFK Hospitality Research notes that combined factors including an overall reduction of economic activity have contributed to a forecasted decline of fourth quarter 2020 of between 50 to 70 percent year-over-year for full service hotels.

As a travel destination, Mendocino County tourism bodes well for a variety of reasons. Early on, the message of wide open spaces was critical to its marketing efforts. Branding “Room to Roam,” and outdoor concepts such as forest bathing underscored the needs of its vital drive market. Outreach themes included a diverse line up of safe travelling options, spotlighting proper CDC protocols and building awareness around the destination’s unique cache of vintage inns, outback cabins and off-in-the-woods adventures.

Of course, the urban escapist has plenty to work with in Mendocino County. Given its diverse layout and ease of operation, visitors can tuck in for a time out in an ancient redwood grove, ply 90 miles of raw California coastline or drop anchor in the enclave of Elk for a Michelin star meal. The current campaign surrounding micro-trips speaks to the three-day getaway focused on a small town experience. Key escape routes include Gualala to Elk, a coastline route combining arts and fine dining; Boonville to Little River, focused on the wine-centric Anderson Valley AVA; Hopland to Willits, plying the Inspiration Highway (101) and the iconic village of Mendocino to the Lost Coast, for a day hike among surreal candelabra groves and resident Roosevelt Elk. www.visitmendocino.com.

BACKGROUND

Located 114 miles north of San Francisco, Mendocino County welcomes nearly 1.8 million visitors annually who explore its 90 miles of prime Pacific coastline, 90+ wineries and 10 diverse AVAs (earning the highest percentage of organic and biodynamic vineyards in the United States), 24 state/national parklands and 450+ unique accommodations. Straddling scenic Highways 1 and 101, “The Redwood Corridor,” the County delivers an ideal vortex of waves, wines and redwoods laced with historic villages and outback adventures.