Winners Named at Gov’s Conference on Tourism & Travel

Hilton Head Island, S.C. – Horse racing, bass fishing and fence mending were recognized as the state’s top travel and tourism honors were presented on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the 44th annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism & Travel.

Set at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa, the conference, titled “Sustainability: Tourism’s Timeless Trend,” focused on sustainable efforts in the tourism industry and featured leading experts in consumer trends and marketing.

During this year’s awards luncheon:

Rodney Grant, a maintenance technician at Springmaid Beach Resort, received the Hospitality Employee of the Year Award. His nomination from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce said, “Rodney is a dedicated individual not only to his job but to the family of Springmaid Beach Resort and to the guests that visit. He is outstanding with attention to detail and willing to do all jobs, from assisting a guest with their room key to helping to build a fence.”

The Bundy Award for contributions to the travel and tourism industry in rural South Carolina was presented to the Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup Steeplechase Races held in Camden. The fall event draws more than 80,000 people and is a major national event for its sport as well as a key fundraiser for the Kershaw County Medical Center.

The Governor’s Cup went to the Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board for its work with the Forrest Wood Cup, the major national bass tournament championship event held on Lake Murray and at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center last August. According to the board’s executive director, Miriam Atria, the event generated a total economic impact in the area of more than $46 million.

Students in hospitality and tourism studies at colleges across the state received scholarships from the Fred Brinkman Memorial Fund, an effort sponsored by the South Carolina Association of Tourism Regions (SCATR). This year’s winners were Chris Wheeler of the College of Charleston, Maddie Stoddard of Clemson University, Lindsay Fertig of Coastal Carolina University, Jett Douglas of the University of South Carolina, Renata Dos Santos of the Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College, Oxana Rotmistrova of Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Adam Hall of Greenville Technical College, Chesnee Kathleen Fly of USC-Beaufort.

Middleton Place received a special Sustainability Award. One of the nation’s leading historic landmarks was recognized for its extensive, leading-edge efforts in modern sustainability, conservation and eco-friendly practices. That includes protecting scenic view shed along the Ashley River and placing thousands of acres of woods and swamp into conservation easements, expanding its nature-based recreational opportunities, and maintaining membership in major “green” hotel, wildlife and other nature groups.

The late John Curry, a key figure in the sustainable development of Hilton Head Island in his leadership roles with the Sea Pines Company, Heritage Foundation and other civic and business ventures, also was recognized in a special tribute by Director Chad Prosser of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism.

2009 Myrtle Beach Visitation Outlook

Today the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce hosted two research presentations to address the 2009 Myrtle Beach visitation outlook. John Pelletier, chairman, Equation Research, and Dr. Donald Schunk, research economist, Coastal Carolina University’s BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development, presented their findings to the MBACC board of directors and local elected officials.

Total tourism demand nets the Palmetto state roughly $16 billion annually, with the economic impact of tourism expenditures in the Myrtle Beach area around $5.8 billion. According to Schunk, current trends could lead to a potential loss of more than $400 million in tourism revenues in 2009 if market share remains consistent. That figure could decrease if the destination gains market share or increase if the destination loses market share.

Anticipating a reduction in its 2009 promotional budget, the MBACC commissioned Equation Research to conduct a study on destination metrics. The purpose of the research was to gauge travel planning trends, travel expectations and other factors impacting tourism in the Myrtle Beach area in 2009.

An online survey was conducted Jan. 14-18 in the Top 10 visitor states outside the Carolinas. Respondents were 25-54 years of age who traveled last year and plan to travel this year. The survey was divided evenly among travelers who had visited in the past two years (Myrtle Beach visitors) and those who had not visited in the past two years (nonvisitors). Survey results revealed:

Awareness and desirability of the Myrtle Beach area are growing, largely due to increased advertising in 2007 and 2008:

· Desirability of the destination is increasing: 43 percent of Myrtle Beach visitors, 26 percent of nonvisitors. (When first measured in fall 2006, the average rating for the Myrtle Beach area was roughly 16 percent.) This ranks favorably with competitor destinations (Daytona, Virginia Beach, Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge and Orlando). Myrtle Beach visitors rated Orlando, the closest competitor, 33 percent; nonvisitors, 28 percent.

· Sixty-two percent of Myrtle Beach visitors and 36 percent of nonvisitors reported seeing advertisements promoting the destination. (When first measured in fall 2006, the average rating for the Myrtle Beach area was roughly 12 percent for visitors/nonvisitors.)

· This rating compares favorably to most competitor destinations (Virginia Beach, Daytona Beach and Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge), except Orlando. Seventy-nine
percent of Myrtle Beach visitors and 72 percent of nonvisitors reported seeing Orlando advertisements.

Awareness due to advertising will likely decline in 2009 due to reduced marketing dollars, both at the state and local levels:

· The 2009 promotional budget is roughly half the level of advertising in 2007 and 2008.

Myrtle Beach visitors reported high levels of satisfaction and tended to view the area as affordable:

· Ninety-two percent of visitors reported being either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied.”

· Seventy-six percent of visitors believe the Myrtle Beach area is an “affordable vacation destination,” and 74 percent believe the destination offers “good value.”

Many Myrtle Beach visitors plan to cut back on travel and travel expenditures in 2009, largely due to the economy:

· The key factors that will negatively impact travel planning in 2009 are uncertainty about the economy (52 percent) and reduced disposable income (39 percent).

· Thirty-one percent of visitors plan to take fewer trips, and 50 percent plan to spend less on leisure travel in 2009. (These figures are unprecedented and indicate that Myrtle Beach visitors are somewhat more likely to cut back in 2009.) The comparable percentages for nonvisitors are 29 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

Reduction in travel expenses will hit lodging, retail, restaurants and entertainment very hard:

· For those Myrtle Beach visitors planning to cut back:
Ø 46 percent will cut back on shopping
Ø 39 percent will spend less on souvenirs
Ø 32 percent will look for a more affordable hotel
Ø 32 percent will see fewer shows or spend less on entertainment
Ø 30 percent will visit fewer attractions
Ø 27 percent will reduce the number of nights they travel
Ø 23 percent will prepare more meals instead of eating out

Most are willing to change destinations in 2009 if it leads to savings:

· Forty-eight percent of Myrtle Beach visitors and 51 percent of nonvisitors have not chosen their destination for 2009.

· When asked if they will consider visiting a different destination in 2009, as compared to 2008:
Ø 67 percent of Myrtle Beach visitors said “yes” (only 8 percent said “no”)
Ø 68 percent of nonvisitors said “yes” (only 8 percent said “no”)

· The most powerful incentives are a free night stay, discounted travel packages and discounted airfare.

The research findings are available on the MBACC Web site, MyrtleBeachAreaChamber.com.

Google recognizes South Carolina for 2008 marketing campaign in Chicago

Google Inc. awards South Carolina Tourism its first-ever Wisdom of the Crowd Award. In 2008, South Carolina launched a multi-faceted campaign that jolted wintery Chicago with a blast of warm air and southern sunshine. The S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism staged the “Time to Thaw” campaign during the snow-laden months of February and March 2008.

Google selected South Carolina’s “Time to Thaw” campaign from among three finalists (the others were the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau and the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Bureau) chosen out of more than 1,300 entries. The award was presented in New York City on January 26th during the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International’s (HSMAI) Adrian Awards Gala. The “Time to Thaw” campaign also won Gold and Silver Adrian Awards from HMSAI (www.HSMAI.org) for best practices in travel-related marketing and media.

Rob Torres, managing director of travel for Google, said the new Wisdom of the Crowd Award is intended to “recognize a powerful integrated marketing campaign that centers around one of Google's core philosophies: Focus on the user and everything else will follow.”

“Time to Thaw” was a $500,000 effort that centered on engaging, unexpected visuals that turned four of Chicago’s underground parking garages – along with buses and a trolley – into sun-splashed beaches, perfect green fairways and scenic destinations in South Carolina. That included large garage interior wall murals, elevator and stairwell conversions, trolley and bus wraps and on-board videos, and a 20-foot-long, custom-built sand sculpture. Other elements were a special Web site, a photo contest inviting people to shoot images of themselves onboard a windsurfer in the Grant Park North garage, converting a downtown trolley into a rolling “welcome center,” air time on more than 50 Chicago radio stations, and personal media outreach.

Torres said 73 percent of respondents marked the two top boxes for the South Carolina campaign in a question about whether the campaign was likely to “grab and hold their attention,” and 53 percent said they were "motivated to visit a Web site or call to learn more about the destination." “In fact, South Carolina’s ‘Time to Thaw’ campaign received the highest ratings by travelers across the board,” he said.

Google’s Senior Marketing Manager for Travel, Cindy Goodrich noted, “When we looked at how South Carolina's campaign resonated with over 1,000 travelers in our survey, we saw overwhelmingly positive results. From its ability to make people smile to its effectiveness in driving consumers to its website, the ‘Time to Thaw’ campaign truly stood out among the finalists as an integrated marketing effort that engaged the consumer and won over the hearts of its ‘crowd’.”

Chad Prosser, director of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, said, “Our goal was to generate direct exposure in the Chicago market and increase online traffic from the region. We achieved that. Inquiries from the Chicago area increased by 51 percent and we have experienced an increase of more than 22 percent in overall traffic to our Web sites.

“This campaign was a fun and engaging way to introduce our product to hundreds of thousands of people a day by showing a little humor and demonstrating the opportunities that are available to visitors in our warm climate,” Prosser added.

The “Time to Thaw” campaign was created and executed by SCPRT in partnership with the state agency’s two ad agencies – Rawle Murdy Associates Inc. of Charleston and the bounce agency of Greenville – with technical help from Web specialist Aristotle Inc. of Little Rock, Ark.

Natural Gas Exploration Focus of Joint Legislative Committee

Members of a joint legislative and private sector committee held a foundational meeting today to begin the process of understanding how the use of natural gas can positively impact the future of South Carolina and the growing need for additional energy sources.

“We want to understand what the exploration and potential development of natural gas resources can mean to South Carolina, both the pros and the cons,” says Senator Paul Campbell, co-chair of the study committee. “This is an education process. We need to know how offshore drilling will increase revenue, if any, and how that same activity may or may not impact tourism. At the end of the process we want the General Assembly and all South Carolinians to know what natural gas can do for the state.”

Renee Orr, with the U.S. Mineral Management Service reported that the possibility exists for at least 14 million barrels of oil and 3.86 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be found off the coast of South Carolina.

Currently, 25 percent of homes in South Carolina use natural gas as the primary heating source. Although prices for natural gas continue to rise, the supply of natural gas is also on the rise. South Carolina pays approximately 35 percent more for natural gas than the rest of the country, due to a lack of infrastructure and current availability of the resource. Since the first quarter of 2007, the supply of natural gas in the U.S. has increased at least 9 percent. Over the next 20 years demand for natural gas in the U.S. is expected to grow approximately 10 percent, while global demand for natural gas is expected to rise 60 percent during the same time period.

Senator Frank Wagner, Virginia State Senator and sponsor of the Virginia Energy Plan, is expected to share the details of Virginia’s effort to manage their energy needs during the committee’s next
meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28. The committee is working to deliver a preliminary report to the General Assembly by early November.

Hanna damages Grand Strand fall tourism revenue

Although Tropical Storm Hanna did mercifully little physical damage to South Carolina’s Grand Strand, the area’s tourism economy took a direct hit this past weekend, resulting in a loss of more than $22 million in revenue. This figure does not include indirect or induced revenues lost as a result of the decline in visitor spending, according to an economic analysis of Hanna’s impact produced by the Brittain Center for Resort Tourism and the BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal Carolina University.

The study indicates that the lodging sector alone lost an estimated $10,622,000 from Thursday, Sept. 4, when Gov. Mark Sanford issued a voluntary evacuation of the coastal areas of Horry and Georgetown counties, through Saturday, Sept. 6. The restaurant segment lost an additional $6,043,000, and the entertainment and sports segments lost another $1,137,000. The balance of the estimated losses was in the areas of retail sales, groceries, transportation, gasoline, etc.

“Comparing last year’s occupancy rate statistics to this year’s for the same September weekend shows that the rate fell significantly, from almost 70 percent in 2007 to only 28 percent in 2008,” said Taylor Damonte, director of the Brittain Center for Resort Tourism.

In addition to the direct revenue lost by businesses, local governments lost accommodation tax and hospitality fee revenue. The revenue lost by all Grand Strand cities and counties combined amounted to an estimated $710,600.

“This substantial loss of revenue cannot be recovered easily and will require local governments to make adjustments to their current budgets,” said Gary Loftus, director of the BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development.

For more information contact Taylor Damonte at 843-349-2698 or Gary Loftus at 843-340-9992.