Some NJ Beaches Get Very Low Marks In Magazine Travel Survey
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- National Geographic magazine has come up with its annual scorecard of the world's oceanfronts. And while the coastal areas of Mozambique and Prince Edward Island are big-time charmers, parts of the Jersey shore have been slapped with one of the magazine's lowest ratings.
Once a year, National Geographic enlists its more than 300 travel experts to pass judgement on the vacation charms of such coastal destinations as the south shore of Nova Scotia, the Great Barrier Island of New Zealand, and the rock-strewn coast of Oregon.
But in the survey's six categories -- from "top-rated" down to "near catastrophic," the oceanfront of northern New Jersey is listed in the second lowest category, "in trouble."
Some of the panelists noted that communities such as Spring Lake, Ocean Grove, and Avon-By-The Sea are pleasant exceptions. But the Jersey shoreline in general, others said, is a "tourism disaster" in which a "family driven heaven meets mass-tourism hell," with the beach tag often an over-priced necessity.
National Geographic says the opinions are those of the panelists and not the magazine.
Reported by Bob Nelson, KYW Newsradio 1060.
