Kids’ shortened summer hurts tourist sites

• Operators of attractions in Indiana say they have taken a hit in admissions, revenues this summer
• In Harrison, admissions have declined roughly 15 to 20 percent this summer over last year.
• Four sites operated by the Indiana State Museum posted the only losses of historic sites statewide
• Officials think schools should not shorten the summer because it has a negative impact on business

Operators of public swimming pools, caves and other outdoor attractions in Southern Indiana say they have taken a hit in admissions and revenues this summer, and they’re running out of time to make up the shortfall.

Park superintendents and managers are blaming a late start of the summer break for thousands of youngsters in Louisville and Southern Indiana after last winter’s unusually harsh weather forced school districts to tack on snow make-up days after Memorial Day weekend.

Instead of escaping classrooms by the holiday weekend, Jefferson County Public Schools students and many Hoosier public school students stayed in school during the first first week in June. Indiana kids will return earlier this summer than in past years — on July 30 and 31 — because of a conversion to a “balanced calendar” where shorter summers and a fall break are the new order. JCPS students head back Aug. 13.

Few — including the operators at Holiday World — are blaming the reopening of Kentucky Kingdom as a major factor. But pool managers and aquatics directors said cooler, rainy weather early this summer clearly hurt revenues and gate admissions.

“The school year has changed the face of summer tourism,” said Rand Heazlitt, Harrison County’s park director. “The landscape is just changing.”

“It seemed like school just got out before it’s going back in two weeks,” added Jeremy Yakeley, executive director of Harrison County’s convention and visitors bureau.

‘Never totally recovered’

In Harrison — where the parks system operates two pools and swimming beach at a pond at Buffalo Trace Park — admissions have declined roughly 15 percent to 20 percent this summer over last year, Heazlitt said.

At Jeffersonville’s aquatic center, revenues are down 9 percent compared with last summer, in part because of a drop in attendance in swim teams and swim lessons. The pool also shut down starting July 4 for five days after pool water tested positive for fecal coliform, said aquatics director Nikki Dillon.

The three show caves in Harrison and Crawford counties — Indiana Caverns, Squire Boone and Marengo — also have reported declines this summer. None of the owners would provide specifics on revenues and admissions, but each confirmed the properties took a hit from the late end to the school year.

“Marengo Cave had a somewhat soft spring and early summer,” its president, Gordon Brown, wrote in an email, adding that admissions and revenues are rebounding this July and are ahead of last July.

Indiana Caverns, the new attraction that opened last summer south of Corydon, got a big boost from free publicity about its underground boat ride and discoveries of ancient animal remains. But its owners said business has dropped off this summer dramatically, despite glowing reviews from customers posted on Trip Advisor and other travel websites.

The business was “going great guns until the bad winter in January and February. Since then, it has never totally recovered,” co-owner Gary Roberson said in an email, adding that “from what I hear, other attractions in the area are way down this year,” too.

Four historic sites in Southern Indiana operated by the Indiana State Museum — at Corydon, New Albany, Bloomington and Madison — posted the only losses of historic sites statewide this summer. The four had a combined drop of 8,578 visits, from 39,882 between May and the second week in July 2013, compared with 31,304 for the same period this year, Laura Minzes, deputy director of historic sites, said.

‘Creeping school calendar’

Tourism officials say another impact of the shorter summer is the hit to their labor force when high school students go back to class. Students often can’t work during the week and after school because they quickly transition into “school mode,” athletics and other activities, Jeffersonville’s Dillon said.

“The creeping school calendar definitely has an effect on tourism in Southern Indiana ... it didn’t feel like summer really got started” until well after Memorial Day, Matt Eckert, president of Holiday World, said in an email.

The park, which is scheduled Thursday to announce a $22 million expansion next year, had a record July Fourthweekend, so officials hope the rest of the season and fall weekends help them rebound, Eckert said.

Tourism officials have warned for years that school systems shouldn’t shorten the summer on youngsters and their families because it has an enormous impact on local businesses and economic development. That’s why some states have mandated schools stick to a schedule where youngsters return to school at the end of August or after Labor Day, said Jim Epperson, executive director of the Clark-Floyd tourism bureau.

“As a parent and a tourism industry person, I’ve been against (the new school calendar) all along,” he said.

Peggy Carpenter, who will have a son and daughter this year at Floyd Central High School, said her teens attended church camp this summer, but there hasn’t been time for a family vacation and short trips.

“We usually go to Holiday World and Mammoth Cave, and up to Cincinnati, but not this year ... it just seems like there’s too much to cram in,” Carpenter said. “It feels really rushed” this summer.

Lynn Huffman, a parent from eastern Louisville, said her son and daughter have been able to wedge in most summer activities — summer camp, Holiday World, and trips to Kentucky Kingdom with season passes. But the weeklong summer vacation trip to South Carolina or Florida fell by the wayside.

“That piece of it has been cut,” Huffman said, adding that “we’re feeling the impact of the shorter summer.”

Parents in Kentucky and Indiana have organized Save Our Summer groups during the last decade to lobby state legislators to consider measures to bar classes from starting until late August. But the efforts gained little support, leading the Kentucky group to disband. Hoosier organizers are considering another approach, Tina Bruno, a Texas-based organizer for the national group, said.

Studies of summer trends in several states have found when school starts before Labor Day, family travel takes a hit, which in turn affects tourism and economic development, Bruno said.

She’s advocated in some states for school officials to consider longer school days in order to allow for a longer summer.

‘Bucking the regional trend’

To offset the losses in Harrison, the park department has offered $1 admission on some days and made up some losses from private swim parties. An increase of about 18 percent in revenues from campground fees also has helped, Heazlitt said.

Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, which operates several properties with lakes and pools at its state parks, has seen a significant jump this summer at its campgrounds. Officials figure gate fees and visitation numbers are up because the parks offer clean, affordable options for family getaways, DNR spokesman Phil Bloom said.

Another business that’s bucked the regional trend is Cave Country Canoes in Milltown, a canoe and kayak livery on the Blue River. Rentals have been brisk thanks to large numbers of groups from the Louisville area that have come out on weekdays and weekends, said Brown, who also owns Marengo Cave with his wife, Judy.

It’s not been too hot or rainy, and river levels have been exceptionally high, he said, so most weekends this summer “we have rented over 700 canoes and kayaks.”

For most park and summer pool executives, there’s no fighting the school calendar, Heazlitt said, but they’re going to have to play smarter about capturing business through online reservation systems and restructuring to boost fees when an amenity, like Harrison’s campgrounds, is showing an uptick.

“We’re going to have to change the way we do business,” he said.

Reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at 812-949-4040. Follow her on Twitter @gesinfk.

Attractions that saw drops during the first half of summer

• South Harrison Park Pool near Elizabeth

• Rhoads Pool in Corydon

• Indiana Caverns

• Jeffersonville Aquatics Center

• Atlantis Water Park

• Corydon Capitol Historic Site

• Culbertson Mansion

• Lanier Mansion in Madison

• T.C. Steele site in Brown County

• Squire Boone Caverns and Zipline tour

• Marengo Cave

• Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari