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But there's good reason to be confident that the area can pull through and keep its economic wheels turning, said Doug Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business who has tracked the state economy for the last two decades.
Woodward was one of the speakers Tuesday at the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce's economic briefing. The event was sponsored by Pure Insurance and drew almost 300 people.
"(The economy) is the worst I've seen in 20 years," Woodward said, pointing to a lack of consumer confidence. "But it's important to keep in mind when we're going through these dismal times that ... Beaufort County and Hilton Head (are) resilient."
Although tourism is hurting, Hilton Head stands to gain by being accessible by car at a time when airfares are high, according to René Mack of New York-based Weber Shandwick, which has done public relations work for Hilton Head for 14 years.
"Travel is off across the board, but you're much better being Hilton Head Island right now than being the islands of Hawaii," he said.
At a time when travelers are increasingly seeking bargains and deals, Mack had several suggestions for local businesses to attract tourists:
• Don't charge people for bringing their pets to hotels.
• Create incentives to boost off-peak travel, such as offering free golf in January or on Mondays.
• Target advertising toward women. They often control travel purse strings and make up the majority of travel professionals.
Tourism wasn't the only topic of concern at the briefing.
On the real estate front, there's also been a raft of bad news over the last year, including high foreclosure rates, declines in property values and homes taking longer to sell, according to Dick Berger, president-elect of the South Carolina Realtors Association.
But he also pointed to the region's amenities as a silver lining.
"Fortunately, what we sell is a quality of life," Berger said. "The ocean is still there; we still have pristine beaches. I'd like to think that there's a foursome on the first tee of every golf course in our area, and that's what draws people to Hilton Head and the entire Lowcountry area and will continue to do so."
Berger also had some good news about local real estate. The number of homes and condos sold last month in the Hilton Head area increased about 2 percent when compared to last October, putting the area ahead of the Myrtle Beach and Charleston areas, which were both down more than 25 percent.
Woodward, the USC economist, said that despite the barrage of bad news, the local and national economies will rebound as they have done after past recessions.
"We're still the most flexible, competitive economy in the world."
