Public-private partnership to promote tourism across state, here

A new public-private partnership to promote tourism wants to more than double the size of the industry's impact in South Carolina, a move that would benefit Beaufort County, say two local partnership members.

The group, called the S.C. Tourism Alliance, was announced Tuesday at the S.C. Governor's Conference on Tourism and Travel. One of the group's goals is to take tourism, already a $16.7 billion part of the state's economy, to $40 billion annually by 2020.

John Curry, president of Hilton Head Island-based The Curry Co., and Susan Thomas, vice president of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce's Visitor and Convention Bureau, are on the 28-member board.

Thomas said the organization will create marketing efforts to reach out to potential visitors, domestically and internationally. It also gives the tourism industry in the state a unified and stronger voice when dealing with local, state and federal governments, she said.

According to state data, tourism creates 12,800 jobs in Beaufort County and brings in $960 million annually in spending.

The main focus of the alliance is to bring together often competing businesses and regional tourism organizations, and market the state as a whole to potential visitors, Curry and Thomas said.

The alliance has plenty of work left to do before launching its marketing programs, Thomas said.

"We will meet frequently and steadily over the next six to 12 months to develop the core platform of work for this committee," Thomas said.

The Tourism Alliance has been in the works for about three years and wasn't created in response to the current slowing economy. But it comes into existence at a time when some fear the state could face a sluggish tourism season this year.

Thomas described the local chamber of commerce as "cautiously optimistic" about how strong the 2008 tourism season will be.

In 2007, the number of visitors and room occupancy rates fell, but room cost and revenue per available room went up in the Hilton Head area when compared with 2006.

Curry, who has been through a number of recessions on Hilton Head, said he expects the island to stay busy, even if there is a national recession.

"People continue to take a vacation, and there's almost a more urgent need for it because of all the pressure" people face during a recession, he said.

Even a rise in the price of gasoline shouldn't keep travelers away because Hilton Head is within a day's drive of several metropolitan areas, Curry said.

Doug Woodward, an economist with the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business, said there are some silver linings behind the dreary economic clouds.

For instance, a weaker dollar may attract more Canadian and European visitors to the Hilton Head area while keeping Americans who might otherwise head overseas at upscale resorts at home, Woodward said.