MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW)- The tourism industry in South Carolina continues to set records.
Thousands of people will be coming to the area this weekend for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, and the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce said that’s a big boost early in the year.
State officials and the chamber work to increase visitor spending year round.
State officials report six years of record breaking growth in the tourism industry; bringing in $22.6 billion in 2017, which is up $1.4 billion.
The chamber said it shows tourism efforts are working.
“We’re always working to increase, especially that first time visitor because we know once we get people to Myrtle Beach they’ll want to return again and again,” said Julie Ellis, with PR and communications for Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Now, state officials want to use $1 million to boost fall tourism. They said in the past four years, flooding and hurricanes set tourism spending back by $321 million.
“We definitely took a hit with Florence and flooding. We lost about six to seven weeks worth of revenue because of that,” said Ellis.
The chamber said it’s had a strong start this year with air travel up seven percent, and want to continue that into the fall with its “Stretch Out Your Summer” campaign.
“We do FAM tours. Those are familiarization tours where we bring in writers, bloggers, and influencers and show them around to create content,” said Ellis.
Tourism generated nearly $1.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2017. That’s the equivalent of lifting an $895 tax burden per household in South Carolina.
“The revenues generated through tourism in the sales taxes also go build our roads, fund our schools, they go to the state,” said Ellis.
The tax money generated also goes to continue tourism marketing.
