Here are Hilton Head residents’ biggest complaints about tourism, survey says
Do Hilton Head Island residents think tourism is a good or bad thing?
The results of a new survey on the subject have been released. And there are a lot of different opinions.
The survey from the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce was conducted in June 2021. MMGY Travel Intelligence, a marketing research and data firm, analyzed the results. The findings were provided to the Town Council during a Tuesday meeting.
Of the 2,979 Hilton Head residents who responded to the survey last year:
- 79% of the respondents lived on the island full time
- 58% were retired
- 60% said tourism is extremely important to the local economy
- 36% said tourism is somewhat important to the local economy
- 51% said tourism impacts them somewhat negatively
- 9% said tourism impacts them extremely negatively
The biggest complaints
More than 85% of respondents said tourism creates traffic congestion problems for residents, 65% said it brings too many people to Hilton Head and 61% said it negatively impacts natural resources.
On the flip side, 76% of survey takers acknowledged that Hilton Head tourism generates tax revenue for different governments, 71% said it creates jobs for local residents and 64% said it supports the creation of businesses and increases real estate values.
The survey results are not necessarily surprising, but they do offer a quantitative look into opinions that islanders have been voicing for years.
MMGY Travel Intelligence reported that the survey respondents zeroed in on these subjects and labeled them as negative aspects of Hilton Head tourism:
- Traffic and congestion
- A lack of parking
- Difficulty getting into local restaurants
- Visitors who do not respect the natural environment and who are partying more
- Trash and litter on the beach
“I think we should build off the community survey, and the insights, by bringing together resident and tourism interests with the goal of ... ensuring our No. 1 economy is for the benefit and well-being of everyone — everyone — in the community,” Ward 3 Town Council member David Ames said Tuesday.
The survey comes as Hilton Head continues to grapple with the U.S. 278 corridor project, concerns about development, a workforce housing shortage, a bid to regulate short-term rentals and questions about the capacity of the island.
Billions of dollars in economic impact
Despite the issues raised in the survey, the economic impact generated by Hilton Head tourism is substantial and is the lifeblood of many local businesses.
The Office of Tourism Analysis at the College of Charleston, in a new report, has estimated that 3.13 million visitors came to Hilton Head in 2021 — that’s up 19.9% from 2020 and 16.5% from 2019.
“The overall economic impact of this tourism for Beaufort County was $2.80 billion,” the report says. “This economic impact represents not just the direct expenditure by visitors, but also the secondary ripple effects of such economic activity that (occurs) as tourism businesses spend operating funds and as tourism dollars are respent within the region.”
Hilton Head tourism also supported an estimated 36,919 jobs, which represents 34.1% of all jobs in Beaufort County, according to employment data provided by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, the report says.
The economic impact report, and the results of the 2021 tourism survey for residents, were labeled as drafts in documents supplied to the Town Council on Tuesday.
$3.6 million allocation
The council voted 7-0 Tuesday to support the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce Visitor and Convention Bureau marketing plan and budget for fiscal year 2022-23.
The approved budget includes an allocation from the town of about $3.6 million in accommodations tax funds.
The chamber is the town’s Destination Marketing Organization, which means it gets an automatic allocation of accommodations taxes each year.
Chamber documents provided to the Town Council on Tuesday only included a budget summary. The chamber has long faced scrutiny and criticism for not releasing more detailed spending records even though it receives and uses public money.
The new marketing plan and budget summary can be found online: bit.ly/HHIChamberPlan
