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The town ranked No. 10 in Budget Travel magazine's poll of America's Coolest Small Towns, an annual listing of hip, up-and-coming communities in the country.
The monthly magazine published by the Washington Post Co. highlights tourism getaways and destinations.
"It's a pretty strong endorsement," said Port Royal Town Councilman Joe Lee. At today's Soft Shell Crab Festival, "people will see why Port Royal deserves it."
The nominees were whittled down from 152 to 22 small towns in February. Port Royal ranked No. 5 until a surge of votes and comments crashed the magazine's Web site on Feb. 10. The site was down for one day, according to Jenny Higgins, an executive assistant at Workhouse Publicity, which handles public relations for the magazine.
But Port Royal residents stopped voting then, thinking the Web site had stopped working, said town manager Van Willis.
"We probably could have gotten a higher ranking," he said.
Port Royal received 2,256 of the 101,662 Web-site votes.
The towns had to have fewer than 10,000 people and offer a good quality of life, unique restaurants, character and growth potential, according the magazine's contest guidelines. Port Royal has about 8,000 residents.
The results were released Wednesday during CBS' "Early Show" and will be listed in the magazine's October issue.
The endorsement might draw more tourists to the area, said Carlotta Ungaro, president of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce.
"Port Royal is a darling little town. It definitely deserves it," she said. "The contest gets people to look at them as a tourist destination, and hopefully, we'll get more people to stay in Port Royal and Beaufort."
