Memorial Day surge signals South Carolina’s tourist industry rebounding

(The Center Square) – South Carolina’s $23.8 billion tourist industry was hoping Memorial Day weekend would signal a rebound after it absorbed an estimated $5.5 billion in lost business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By all indications, the rebound has begun as summer peak season nears.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s (MBACC) lodging dashboard showed hotel occupancy in the Grand Strand region for the week of May 30 to June 5 was 76.6%, a 9% increase from the previous week and 28% higher than the same week last year.

The average daily rate for area hotel rooms during Memorial Day weekend was $189.90, and the hotel revenue per available room was $149.45, MBACC reported.

“Horry County adjusted paid and owner occupancy bookings for the next 60 days are pacing 18 points ahead of 2019 and 11 points ahead of 2020,” MBACC reported as of June 10. “We’ve been seeing strong destination demand for the summer and expect to see average occupancy rates to increase up to date of stay.”

After last week’s four-day Carolina Country Music Fest in Myrtle Beach, which ended Sunday, all those metrics should continue to surge. Data from the week ending Sunday will be released Friday.

The Grand Strand trend is reflected statewide in a recent update from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT), which reported 67.8% of South Carolina hotel rooms were filled during the week ending May 29 – up 50.9% from the same week in pandemic-ravaged 2020 and up 11.3% from the same week in 2019, the last “normal” season.

On a year-to-date basis, statewide hotel revenue per available room remains 14% behind 2019 levels, according to SCPRT, but the metric is likely to inch up as summer progresses, as are statewide hotel occupancy rates. The 68% occupancy rate for the week ending June 5 was down 1.7 percentage points from 2019, the SCPRT reported.

Tourism is a $23.8 billion industry in South Carolina. It supports more than 140,000 jobs – one in every six in the state – and generates $2.3 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

More than 40,000 South Carolina tourism jobs have been lost since the pandemic emerged in March 2020, according to the South Carolina Department of Employment & Workforce (DEW).

The U.S. Travel Association reported South Carolina’s leisure and hospitality payrolls declined 46% – or by 125,700 jobs – last spring.

South Carolina’s economy gained 224,700 jobs from April 2020 to April 2021, according to DEW, led by the addition of 85,600 in leisure and hospitality, which still is about 41,000 below what it was in March 2020.

DEW reported a 1,300-jobs decline in the leisure/hospitality sector jobs in April. The state’s hospitality/leisure sector hasn’t gained jobs since December as South Carolina’s tourist-related businesses were anxious about the coming season’s prospects and finding the workers they need.

Wells Fargo predicted “better days ahead for South Carolina tourism” in a May 28 analysis.

“While the overall economy will certainly get a boost from the resurgence in travel, several regional markets will see disproportionate benefits. South Carolina, in particular, stands to benefit,” the Wells Fargo report read.

Because international travel remains restricted and is likely to remain so through the summer, “South Carolina’s location on the Mid-Atlantic coast is drivable from much of the East Coast,” Wells Fargo noted. “We expect South Carolina, and particularly the state’s coastal communities, to post a solid rebound” and “ramp up over the summer.”

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