Tourism shows gains in Carolinas

South Carolina is poised to see a surge in Labor Day travel compared with last year if it follows national trends, a representative for AAA Carolinas said.

"People want to get out there and take advantage of the good weather and hit the beach and hit the mountains," spokesman Brendan Byrnes said.

Nationwide, travel is expected to be up 9.9 percent for this year's holiday weekend compared with the same time last year, according to AAA predictions. The Carolinas usually lag slightly behind the nation, because of higher than average unemployment, but travel will still be up significantly, Byrnes predicted.

South Carolina has the sixth-highest unemployment in the nation at 10.8 percent, while North Carolina ranks 14th at 9.8 percent. National unemployment averages 9.5 percent.

Fewer people usually travel for the Labor Day holiday than for July Fourth because the school year has already started for most children, Byrnes said. The number of travelers for July Fourth increased 12 percent in the Carolinas compared to the holiday last year, with about 450,000 people traveling in South Carolina.

The discrepancy between July Fourth and Labor Day shrunk last year as more visitors held on to their money until the end of the summer, and the same thing could happen this year, Byrnes said. Steadily falling gas prices will also encourage people to travel, he said.

As of Thursday, gas prices had fallen for 15 straight days, he said. A gallon of gas was going for an average $2.43 Thursday in Myrtle Beach, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.

N.C. hotel occupancy sets record in July

Hotel occupancy shot up in North Carolina for July compared with the same month last year - the biggest year-over-year increase since the state began tracking the numbers about a decade ago, according to a report released by the N.C. Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development.

State occupancy was up 9.8 percent, while the hotel rates fell by 0.2 percent, the report said. Southeast North Carolina, including Brunswick County, N.C., and 10 other counties, was up 11 percent in July, following on an 8.9 percent increase in June.

Despite the gains, business at Brunswick County hotels remains below pre-recession levels, said Mitzi York, executive director of the Brunswick County Tourism Development Authority

"Nobody is saying to me that we're back to 2008," York said. "I'm not hearing that, but I'm definitely hearing an improvement over last year."

The summer started slow but has ramped up, and August should be even better than July, said Debbie Smith, co-owner of Sloane Realty, which rents beach houses and operates a hotel in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Sloane hasn't had to offer as many discounts to fill rooms this summer, Smith said. June and July business was still down about 8 percent to 10 percent compared to 2008, she said.

Smith said she hopes occupancy will stay up for the fall shoulder season.

"That's really weather dependent, but if we keep having this gorgeous weather, we ought to have a pretty good fall season," she said.