Spotlight On: Jennifier Bacchione, Commissioner, Deputy Director, & Liaison to Business Development & Tourism, Ocean County
Key points:
- • Ocean County drew a record 10.88 million visitors in 2025.
- • Vocational school expansions in Jackson and Waretown are adding training capacity.
- • The county aims to make tourism a year-round business.
October 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Jennifier Bacchione, commissioner at Ocean County Business Development & Tourism, discussed expanding vocational education, supporting year-round tourism, and creating opportunities for local businesses. Bacchione also emphasized protecting the county’s natural assets as it grows: “We have to keep Ocean County beautiful,” Bacchione said.
Join us at caa’s upcoming leadership summits! These premier events bring together hundreds of public and private sector leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities for businesses and investors. Find the next summit in a city near you!
What recent milestones stand out for Ocean County’s tourism economy and workforce development?
We hosted three World Cup watch parties, spread across the northern, southern and central parts of the county and at the Jersey Shore BlueClaws stadium. It’s difficult to identify visitor numbers specifically attributable to the World Cup here, but the watch parties went well. We also created our own Ocean County World Cup logo and limited edition giveaways to raise awareness of Ocean County tourism.
We’ve expanded our vocational-technical schools in Jackson and Waretown (Ocean Township). The Jackson expansion added 24,865 square feet, including a 12-bed patient training area for medical assisting students. It allows us to serve 192 additional students in programs such as electrical, plumbing, welding, and medical assisting.
In Waretown, we’ve increased capacity from 48 students to 270. The programs include electrical, welding, and cosmetology. We had a waiting list for vocational-technical education, and these expansions allow more students to take advantage of those opportunities.
Ocean County consistently ranks No. 3 for tourism growth among New Jersey’s 21 counties every year, behind Cape May and Atlantic counties. We had a record 10.88 million visitors in 2025. State and local tax revenue and tourism employment increased, and tourism creates more than 29,000 jobs here. Those are important measures of what tourism contributes to the county.
What are your priorities for strengthening tourism beyond the summer season?
We’re seeing more people live here year-round. Ocean County isn’t just a summer destination anymore. September is what we call locals’ summer, but when the weather is nice, there’s still plenty of traffic coming down the parkway on Thursdays and Fridays.
Our goal is to make tourism a year-round business, including on Long Beach Island. We’re encouraging seasonal businesses and businesses along the boardwalk to stay open longer, with restaurants and activities available beyond the traditional season.
We’re trying to support small businesses by understanding what they need to keep operating longer. We want people to have things to do throughout the year, and we want the businesses that serve them to be able to take advantage of that.
How are you reaching visitors and promoting activities throughout the year?
Our tourism brochure includes events throughout the year, from Christmas activities to fall events. Fall is a beautiful time to visit, and there are farms in Plumstead, Jackson, and our other rural communities. Ocean County is about more than its beaches.
The brochure has QR codes that connect people to information on hotels and events. I believe we distribute about 60,000 copies across the surrounding area, including Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York. We’ve done that in the past, but we’ve increased both the distribution coverage and the information available.
We’ve also rebranded Ocean County tourism and increased our social media presence. Our tourism staff produces videos of local businesses, and our public affairs and tourism teams work continually to update the information people can find online.
Our parks department is updating its information as well. We have a beautiful park system, and our library system is expanding its activities and events throughout the year. We’ve been working to get that information out so people can see what there is to do.
We also have a weekly radio program that plays on Fridays, It’s a Shore Thing on WOBM , with our public affairs and tourism staff. We discuss weekend activities across the county, including indoor options when the weather is bad. It gives people ideas for getting out, visiting Ocean County, and supporting local businesses. That’s something we implemented within the past year.
How are you diversifying the economy and creating opportunities outside traditional tourism?
We’re working with our chambers of commerce and have a diverse Tourism and Business Development Council with representation from different types of businesses. That helps us understand where there are weaknesses and what we need to address.
We’re also working to reinvigorate our film commission. With Netflix in Monmouth County bringing film crews into the area, we want our towns to be film-ready. There are opportunities for productions in Ocean County, including streaming films.
Film crews need places to stay, food, dry cleaning, and other services. We’re developing lists of those businesses in each town so crews can find what they need locally. That includes grocery stores, dry cleaners, restaurants, and other businesses that can serve a production while it’s here.
How do you balance economic development with conservation and the county’s character?
Our land trust was established about 30 years ago, and we’ve preserved more than 30,000 acres across the county. We meet monthly and continue working on land preservation, including farmland.
We have a responsibility to protect the beauty and character of this area. We have to keep Ocean County beautiful. We’re updating the land trust website, and there’s a ballot question to increase the land trust tax by one cent to help fund more preservation.
We’re also working with private businesses and individual towns to understand what they need to grow. Our unemployment rate dropped 1.3%, and we want to keep supporting local employment.
Ocean County College provides about 4,800 jobs. It offers affordable tuition for county residents and people from outside the county. We want students to remain here and work locally after they finish, just as we do with students in our vocational-technical programs.
What will be your main priorities over the next three to five years?
I want to deepen our relationships with the chambers of commerce and continue helping businesses beyond the ribbon-cutting stage. Opening a business is one step; we need to keep working with small businesses as they grow.
We’ll continue raising awareness of our tourism brand and what Ocean County offers. We also want to expand access to our parks, recreation opportunities, and historical sites so more people can enjoy them.
We’re working to expand the Barnegat Branch Trail. It gives people a way to walk through the county, enjoy its beauty, and appreciate the land we’re conserving.
Our parks, culture, and heritage work is about making Ocean County a great place to visit, live, and raise a family. We want to keep building on those opportunities.
Want more? Read the Invest: New Jersey report.
