Everything is going up in Myrtle Beach 鈥 hotel revenue recovery, passengers at the airport, marketing for visitors and gas prices 鈥 according to the quarterly report from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
Karen Riordan, president and CEO of the chamber, said Myrtle Beach was at the top of the list nationally for hotel revenue recovery.
鈥淭hat is something that our industry and our community should feel really great about is that everyone pulled together and worked really hard to show significant recovery after the downsides of 2020,鈥 Riordan said.
She addressed city council Tuesday and provided their quarterly update, with data reflecting the fourth quarter of 2021 from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
Occupancy rates at flag hotels, such as Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton, are at 57.4%. That鈥檚 up 38% from 2020 and revenue is up 81%, totaling $884.3 million. Occupancy rates for independent hotels were reported at 49%, up 66% from the year before and the average daily rate is just under $155, up 21% from 2020.
These numbers, Riordan said, are year-over-year data. That data is used to make comparisons between one time period and another that is one year earlier, allowing for an annualized comparison between quarter earnings from this year versus the year before.
Riordan said the growing popularity of the area brings benefits for development, such as efforts to revitalize and redevelop downtown Myrtle Beach.
鈥淏usiness owners, investors and entrepreneurs are taking notice and are bringing their business to the beach,鈥 Riordan said. 鈥淎nd the area continues to attract new residents too.鈥
Hotels are not the only industry in Myrtle Beach seeing record-setting recovery numbers. Riordan said Myrtle Beach International Airport set a state record in July for most passengers deplaning in one month with more than half a million.
鈥淣ormally Charleston and some of the other more established airports are number one,鈥 Riordan said. 鈥淪o, that was pretty telling for us in terms for the number of people who were welcomed here.鈥
The Myrtle Beach airport saw 1.6 million deplanements in 2021, up 188% year-over-year from the previous year, which saw less than 560,000 deplanements. A record 3.2 million passengers came through the airport in 2021, which includes both arrivals and departures. Riordan said while the departures include tourists heading back home, it also includes locals traveling.
The Myrtle Beach airport has service from nine airlines with more than 50 nonstop markets, due in part to the addition of Southwest Airlines last April, according to Riordan. She added growth at the airport benefits more than just the residents and tourists.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also good for business and group travel, such as meetings and conventions, when we have more ways for people to get here fast and affordably,鈥 Riordan said.
The growth of the Myrtle Beach airport also spawns from the financial efforts of the city and their usage of the tourism development fee (TDF), which is 1% sales tax on items purchased within the city. State law directs that 80 percent of the TDF be used for 鈥渢ourism advertisement and promotion directed at non-South Carolina residents,鈥 while the remaining 20 percent can be used for property tax credits or tourism-related capital improvement projects.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, over $8 million was spent on marketing activities from the TDF, with air services receiving a little over $1.23 million, the third highest usage of the TDF. General consumer promotions were second with $1.303 million and digital took up 40%, or $3.188 million, of the TDF funds used in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Riordan said the funds that were allocated for digital were spent on a variety of digital advertising, including paid search, digital display ads, social media ads, digital content partnerships, streaming audio ads, and connected/streaming television ads, to promote visitation to Myrtle Beach, primarily for the chamber鈥檚 fall season and holiday campaigns.
It was reported TDF revenue as a whole for 2021 was up 42% year-over-year while the revenue for the accommodations tax was almost double that of TDF鈥檚 with a reported 83% year-over-year increase.
Riordan also shared with council spending data through a tool called Visa View, which shows domestic visitor spending and indicates when credit cards being used in the area. The data show domestic visitor Visa spending was $1.9 billion, up 58% year-over-year.
鈥淭he other really encouraging thing about that is not only were people here last year but they were spending, they were indulging, certainly with lodging but also with restaurants and they were spending in retail and attractions,鈥 Riordan said.
It was also an award-winning year for marketing for Visit Myrtle Beach as the organization won U.S. Travel鈥檚 Educational Seminar for Tourism Organizations award for best integrated marketing campaign. She said Myrtle Beach beat out other popular tourist destinations like Orlando.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy about that,鈥 Riordan said.
The Visit Myrtle Beach campaign also generated 4.2 billion earn media impressions, which were valued at $238 million.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the number of eyeballs looking at the publicity that we were integrating on behalf of Myrtle Beach so that鈥檚 everything from magazine articles to news clips on television, radio mentions and everything,鈥 Riordan said.
As gas prices have risen exponentially in recent weeks and the city preps for the influx of tourists, City Councilman Phil Render asked about the effect of tourist numbers and the state gas tax, which is currently more than 25 cents per gallon.
Georgia has suspended their state gas tax.
鈥淚 know it鈥檚 cold comfort when a year ago gas was $2.79 but right now we are not seeing any correlation either that is slowing down the visitation or the activity by vacationers,鈥 Riordan said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e certainly not happy about it. They鈥檙e grumpy but they are just paying more at the pump because they still want to take their spring vacation.鈥
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.