CHARLESTON, SC (WCBD) – Consultants say tourism hit a brand new excessive over the weekend of July four, 2022 within the Charleston space. They are saying the town and area are on tempo to interrupt the tourism figures set in 2019 earlier than COVID-19.
Vacationers and locals alike flocked to space seashores and downtown Charleston, having fun with the realm’s scenes over the Fourth of July weekend. As crowds fluctuate within the space, consultants say appearances might have been deceiving. They count on a lot of vacationers who celebrated the vacations all through the realm, from eating places to accommodations, seashores and extra as soon as the official figures are recovered.
“Saturday and Sunday there have been folks right here all day and all evening,” says Roy Neal, proprietor of El Jefe in downtown Charleston.
Tourism is again in an enormous approach throughout the Lowcountry, with companies and consultants alike saying it is having a noticeable impression.
“We have seen a rise in clients and a rise in folks strolling the streets and a rise in our gross sales for certain,” says Neal.
Outdoors of the pandemic, tourism consultants predicted that numbers throughout the board might attain new heights. Even with the fluctuating crowd measurement over the vacation weekend, they nonetheless count on the ultimate numbers to be a number of the finest.
“As soon as we get these numbers and look again this weekend, we’ll see numbers that basically resemble pre-pandemic numbers,” says Daniel Guttentag, Director of Tourism Analytics on the Faculty of Charleston. “In different phrases, what we had been experiencing in 2019, if not a bit of greater.”
And whereas lodge and restaurant numbers are unofficial at the moment, Charleston Worldwide Airport formally had an unprecedented 4th of July weekend. Greater than 43,000 passengers flew from the airport, breaking the earlier file set in 2019.
“Airport numbers are up and so are we,” says Neal.
“Having the airport busier than ever, so the fly market is unquestionably again,” says Guttentag.
Consultants say it might solely get busier with enterprise and group journey starting to return to Charleston. Neal says that he hopes 2022 can be a yr for the file books.
“Minnesota, Michigan, Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia, all of them come down I-95 or the airport and so they love Charleston, so I feel the surge can be right here for some time,” says Neal.
These official tourism numbers are anticipated to be launched later within the week. Consultants predict that they are going to align with the rise in tourism figures for the primary six months of the yr.
