Beaufort Co. business leaders fear ‘pure economic catastrophe’ if Parris Island closed
What would a “pure economic catastrophe” look like north of the Broad River?
For Robb Wells, it’s pretty simple: the complete closure of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.
“Millions upon millions would effectively disappear from the tourism economy in a blink,” said Wells, president and CEO of the Greater Beaufort-Port Royal Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Wells and other Beaufort County business leaders on Friday said the financial fallout would be immense if the storied boot camp ever shut down, reacting to a Thursday report from Military.com that the Marine Corps is weighing a plan that would shutter the depot.
“It’s integral to our regional economy in Beaufort, unquestionably,” said Ian Scott, president and CEO of the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Scott, though, stressed that it’s premature to speculate about whether the boot camp will actually close.
The Marine Corps is considering a plan that would shut down both Parris Island and its training depot in San Diego to direct all future recruits to a new co-educational base, according to Military.com.
But no final decisions have been made.
“We’re not investing any money anywhere else. It’s just an option we’re talking about,” Maj. Eric Flanagan, a spokesman for Commandant Gen. David Berger, told Military.com.
Despite that, Scott said the issue must be taken seriously.
“The article should be a wake-up call. … You can’t take your eye off the ball,” Scott said. The boot camp is too important to Beaufort County, he said.
By the numbers
Parris Island has a $601.5 million economic impact on Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties, according to data compiled in a 2017 report prepared for the South Carolina Military Base Task Force.
Over 6,100 people are employed thanks to Parris Island, according to the chamber of commerce’s website.
And millions of dollars flow into several local industries, from health care providers to food services and real estate companies, the 2017 report found.
Visitors attending Parris Island graduations make up about 45% of overnight guest stays at hotels in Beaufort and Port Royal every year, Wells added.
“We feel historically tied to the Marines, and we wouldn’t concede a closure without a very measured, very well-thought-out case, along with our congressional delegation … to keep the base open,” said John O’Toole, executive director of the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation.
Wells added that the COVID-19 pandemic has already given local leaders an idea of what a “post-Parris Island” world might look like.
The boot camp closed graduations to the public this past spring as a coronavirus safety precaution.
Hotel revenue in Beaufort and Port Royal, meanwhile, has now dropped roughly 30% year-over-year since January, Wells said.
That decline is not solely attributable to the graduation limitations, of course. Wells stressed that the pandemic has upended tourism across the board.
But the lack of regular Parris Island graduations, with families attending, has hurt the industry, he said. And it provides some insight into what the future might hold. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the island every year, Wells said.
“This is a rallying-cry opportunity for leaders in the region,” Scott said.
Elected officials and business community members must work together to immediately address the matter, the chamber president said.
O’Toole agreed.
Parris Island accounts for $739.8 million in economic activity every year in South Carolina, according to the 2017 task force report. The majority of that activity is concentrated in the Beaufort region.
And the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps Community Services are among the area’s largest employers, according to the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
“They’re a significant part of our success, a significant part of our history,” O’Toole said of the Marine Corps.
“I really wouldn’t prepare for this to happen quickly,” he added.
‘Economic boom’
Stephen Wise, director of the Parris Island Museum, said the region’s past is intertwined with that of the training depot’s.
Parris Island was the only major local employer during the Great Depression, he said. The boot camp and surrounding community benefited from Works Progress Administration projects under the New Deal.
Page Field, for example, was built by area residents as a WPA project.
With an influx of roughly 200,000 recruits during World War II, Parris Island also helped the region recover from the Depression, Wise added.
“People saw this as a way to bring just an economic boom,” Wise said of the boot camp’s opening more than 100 years ago.
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 4:50 AM with the headline "Beaufort Co. business leaders fear ‘pure economic catastrophe’ if Parris Island closed."
