Tourism Could Bounce Back in Myrtle Beach Amid Slow Economic Recovery in 2010

Dawn Bryant - dbryant@thesunnews.com

COLUMBIA -- Tourism along the Grand Strand could bounce back better than some expect in 2010, economic experts predicted before the start of the annual Economic Outlook Conference today.

Despite ongoing strains on the job market statewide, the Grand Strand is poised to benefit because folks will still take a vacation, said Doug Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina, which is hosting today's conference. Challenges will persist in unemployment -- with the jobless rates predicted to hang in the double digits throughout the year - and real estate, though the extension of the national homebuyers tax credit into 2010 should help, Woodward said.

"People are going to take a vacation," he said. "Myrtle Beach could actually come back even stronger than some people anticipate right now. [Taking a vacation] is still something we expect them to do even in a down job market."

The Grand Strand tourism industry likely bottomed out earlier this summer, said Don Schunk, a research economist at Coastal Carolina University who is participating in the conference. Local hospitality fee collections have shown some strength in the last few months, he said.

The state should see some modest growth in jobs and income in 2010, Woodward said. The job base is expected to tick up by 0.2 percent – though it won’t be enough to offset the state’s high jobless rate - while personal income could climb by 3.3 percent, he said.

“The projected small rise in job growth will not be high enough to make much of a dent in the state’s historically high unemployment rate,’’ Woodward said. “Yet many of our economic indicators suggest that South Carolina’s long recession is now over.”

Still, challenges remain. Consumer spending, which fuels the nation’s economy, will continue to lag as residents save more and struggle amid the tough job market. Real estate has shown some improvement in recent months, but will be tested next year as incentives for homebuyers run out, Schunk said.
“I’m looking for a frustratingly slow recovery to begin to take hold in 2010,” he said.
The conference is sponsored by USC’s Darla Moore School of Business.

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