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Travel, tourism industry still mainstay of area’s economy
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Nearly $100 billion poured into Lowcountry coffers in 2006, thanks to the open wallets of
4.21 million leisure tourists and business travelers who, along with a growing cruise ship market and ballooning festival attendance, are expected to push this year’s numbers still higher.
Travelers to metro Charleston threw $235 a day each at the region’s businesses, spending on hotels, restaurants, retail goods and area attractions, according to the College of Charleston’s Office of Tourism.
Those monies also translated into 50,000 full- and part-time jobs and $1.1 billion in earnings.
Perrin Lawson, deputy director of the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, called the addition of AirTran, the low-cost airline carrier that began serving Charleston International Airport in May, one of the area tourism industry’s brightest spots.
David Jennings, chairman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority, agreed and predicted the airport this year would set a record for passenger traffic as a result of the new airline.
“We don’t have the December numbers yet, but we should be comfortably over two million passengers,” Jennings said.
Year to date through November, the airport had 2.09 million departing and arriving passengers. During the same period last year, the airport’s Web site reported, there were 1.73 million passengers, a 20% difference.
“What is remarkable about our setting a record in 2007 is that AirTran didn’t arrive until May 24,” Jennings said. “So we had low-cost service for only seven months of 2007.”
Another increasingly important contributor in the region’s tourism industry is the cruise ship market. In November, the S.C. State Ports Authority announced the signing of a new contract with Norwegian Cruise Line, which will add nine new ship visits and bring the line’s ports of call in Charleston to 36.
Norwegian has operated through the Port of Charleston since 2003 and will add more runs to Bermuda this year in addition to service in the Caribbean. The latest contract with Norwegian guarantees 105,000 passengers this season.
Still, with gas prices high and home sales dipping, area businesses that depend on travelers’ dollars to stay in the black are remaining cautiously optimistic for 2008.
“I don’t want to paint a picture of gloom and doom, but what we hear in the news causes some concern,” said Don Singletary, general manager of the Holiday Inn Historic District. “(But) I’m going to be optimistic, and I haven’t seen any big decreases in business bookings.”
Singletary said the hotel’s 2007 occupancy rates were flat compared with 2006, but rate increases during the year kept revenue up. “That’s what the entire industry anticipated,” he said.
Group bookings at Charleston Place, the historic district’s largest convention hotel, are marginally behind bookings at the same time last year, General Manager Paul Stracey said.
“We may be five to 10 percent behind in pace…which is not a great concern,” Stracey said. “(But) no one’s really sure what the economy is supposed to be doing. Even though it looks relatively good, no one knows what’s coming down the road. Any time there’s a little bit of economic concern, big groups are less willing to commit further out.”
Stracey said the average occupancy rate at Charleston Place is at 72%, three points higher than it was in 2006. Two-thirds of the hotel’s business is group-related, he said.
Charleston’s long-established festivals attract thousands of visitors annually. The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition will lure at least 35,000 visitors to the area Feb. 15 through
Feb. 19.
Spoleto Festival USA, the international arts festival established here in 1977, is expected to draw more than 85,000 attendees and reap nearly $3 million in ticket sales for performances held from May 23 through June 8.
Spoleto marketing director Paula Edwards said the festival generated $2.97 million in 2006 and reached $2.94 million in ticket sales in 2007.
“One thing I think could be an advantage for us is the low value of the dollar overseas,” Edwards said.
As the new year unfolds, the clip-clop of horses’ hooves along the streets of the city’s historic district may be as good an indicator as any of how well local tourism is thriving.
Tom Doyle, president of Palmetto Carriage Works, said 2007 was a great year for the carriage tour company and for others in the tourism industry.
“It’s just been a really big year, and who would have thought it, with the housing crisis?” Doyle said. “People didn’t seem to have a problem coming to Charleston or spending money here. We’re just a really hot place right now.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@setcommedia.com.
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