THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Early Summer 2018 81 TheCoastalBend.com Port Aransas EIGHT MONTHS AFTER HARVEY, Port Aransas businesses go into the sum- mer season, when so much of their yearly income is earned, with optimism that visitors and vacation home owners will return this year despite being in the throes of recovery after last year’s hurricane. The reality is that while many vaca- tion homes, hotels/motels, and small condo units are open and hosting guests, overnight rental inventory in the city is still down more than 60%, and will remain so through the end of the summer. Operating revenue for the Port Aransas Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Bureau is down to a fraction of normal, due to the drastic loss of Hotel Occu- pancy Tax, its primary source of income that is in turn used to promote the city to prospective visitors from throughout Texas and North America. The new, but hopefully temporary, realty for Port A is that with so much room inventory out of commission and under repair, the city must attract folks who are visiting the area but can only find accommodations in Corpus Christi or on North Padre Island, and those who live within fifty miles or so who will come to the island for a day on the beach, fishing, golf, shopping and dining—day trippers. If attendance at April’s Texas Sandfest is any indicator, the strategy may be work- ing, as the crowd’s were just about as big as ever, although visitors had to stay twenty miles away or more. There is no doubt that for retailers, restaurants, fish- ing charters and golf cart renters, this summer will be one of uncertainty as Port A relies on regional tourists to come as much as those from across Texas.