Future of this meeting market not up in the air
Two years ago, Myrtle Beach unveiled a new mile-long promenade and boardwalk that included an 18-story SkyWheel Ferris Wheel.
It was one of many new lures to the Southern Carolina coastal communities that spread out over 60 miles of coastline known as the "Grand Strand."
The area brings in 15 million visitors a year with its 90,000 hotel rooms and almost 2,000 restaurants. But perhaps more than anything, Myrtle Beach is known for its 100 golf courses.
Meeting planners find many golf and beach related activities but there’s also the practical side of the market: more than 50 hotels have meeting facilities, some of them with more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
"Myrtle Beach has long been known as one of the South’s top leisure and golf destinations. With development over the past five to 10 years in branded and recognized hotel names in the meetings industry, planners are now discovering the benefits of bringing meetings to Myrtle Beach," Danna Lilly, director of sales at the CFB, told Meetings Focus West.
A popular place for business is the 250,000-square-foot Myrtle Beach Convention Center, which includes a 100,800-square-foot, column-free exhibition hall and a 17,000-square-foot ballroom. Attached to it is the 400-room Myrtle Beach Sheraton Convention Center Hotel, with a ballroom hosting up to 1,200.
Several blocks away, lining the beach are hotels with more than 1,000 rooms within a half-mile of the center. Myrtle Beach International Airport, which will open a $130 million terminal expansion early next year, is just three miles from the center.
Nearby, the Kingston Plantation area includes en Embassy Suites and other hotels that offer 1,600 guest rooms and 113,000 square feet of meeting space. And 72 holes of golf as well.
By David Wilkening
David
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