Here is what Myrtle Beach locals must know about the ’2,000-pound elephant’ in the room

America’s fastest-growing city is a proven superstar during the busy summer months, anchoring a multi-billion tourism market that routinely is named among the country’s popular vacation spots.

But keeping visitor interest high during the shoulder season - that period between Labor Day and Memorial Day - continues to be a challenge.

“Over these decades, we have come far in creating a less seasonal destination,” Taylor Damonte, director of Coastal Carolina University’s Clay Brittian Jr. Center for Resort Tourism, said. “Seasonality is the 2,000-pound elephant in the room.”

Lodging numbers show growth and more money coming to Myrtle Beach is true.

Myrtle Beach vacationers spent an average of $220 per night for hotel rooms - an eight percent jump from 2021 numbers. They also spent just more than $2,000 during their stay this year, eclipsing the $1,900 average spend of last year.

During the week of Sept. 18, the Grand Strand boasted a 68.5 percent lodging occupancy rate according to STS, a hotel tracking site.

For the week ending Oct. 2, 55 percent of rooms were booked even as Hurricane Ian bore down on the region.

“While the summer months are our peak season, the spring, fall, holiday and winter seasons are also increasingly popular times,” Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Karen Riordan said in an email to The Sun News. “Year-round tourism benefits us all by increasing the region’s tax revenues and providing full-time year, year-round jobs for our residents.”

Beach excursions and golf continue to dominate the state’s tourism market. The University of South Carolina’s Insights Lab, which monitors and analyzes social media trends, said in 2021 that 59 percent of 200,000 posts tied to leisure activities fell into those categories.

Cultural tourism made up just 2 percent of mentions, researchers found.

The city’s sub-tropical climate, proximity to major interstates and easy airport access does offer advantages that contribute to year-round visitation, Damonte said.

“I think between ride-sharing and remote work, those evolutions could potentially make a geography like the Myrtle Beach oceanfront good for that kind of market,” he said.

Officials are also looking to extend the Christmas season, with major events planned to start next month, including Winter Wonderland at the Beach and a themed light show at Brookgreen Gardens.

Myrtle Beach visitors are “first and foremost experience seekers. They love to travel. They like to see different places. They’re interested in those things they can do together,” Riordan told city council on Oct. 11.

Local arts organizations are also eager to share their ideas and programs with one another, said Shannon Farro, executive director of the Long Bay Symphony.

The 35-year-old nonprofit operates during the city’s off-season, drawing between 800 and 1,500 people for each performance.

Farro said Long Bay’s programming is leaning more into younger audiences, pursuing pop-based concerts featuring music from ABBA and Queen.

“It all speaks for itself in the summertime,” Farro said. “I think it’s all about the way we’re thinking about what a symphony does in the community, and what we should be doing at the end of the say. If the arts overall are healthy, we’ll all be healthy.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated Oct. 31 to give the date the data was pulled on room occupancy.

This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 7:00 AM.