Myrtle Beach Chamber: Tourism tax is working - WPDE

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce says the tourism tax is working.

They updated the Myrtle Beach City Council Tuesday about the money they spend on a public relations firm that is funded by the penny sales tax. The chamber projects to spend roughly $16 million on advertising and marketing the Grand Strand.

A small portion of that money goes to pay a PR firm from New York, M Booth and Associates, to handle to publicity of the beach.

CEO Margi Booth told city council Myrtle Beach is one of her firm's "power brands."

To date, the firm says 11,500 stories about Myrtle Beach have appeared in the media from the Today Show to the The Washington Post. That's projected to have reached 10 billion consumers, having a value of $100 million over 5 years.

Chamber president Brad Dean says there's been an increase in the number of accommodations and sales tax dollars collected. He adds some Myrtle Beach residents have seen the largest property tax cut in state history.

Now, the chamber says, their next marketing step is growing air service.

"We have at least 20 to 30 markets that we could support direct air service, and we're hopeful that with additional PR and advertising and a slightly improving economy, we could start to see an increase of international travel to the Myrtle Beach area as well," Dean said.

Booth told NewsChannel 15 they have already done some marketing and seen some response to Myrtle Beach in England.

Dean says overall this summer, they've seen an increase in the number of tourists.

12 Oct, 2011

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