Everything is going up in Myrtle Beach — hotel revenue recovery, airport passengers, visitor marketing and gas prices — according to the quarterly report from the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
Karen Riordan, president and CEO of the chamber, said Myrtle Beach tops the list nationally for recovering hotel revenue.
“It’s something that our industry and our community should feel really good about is that everyone has stepped up and worked very hard to show a meaningful recovery from the downsides of 2020,” Riordan said.
She addressed City Council on Tuesday and provided her quarterly update, with data reflecting the fourth quarter of 2021 from October 1 to December 31.
Occupancy rates for flagship hotels, such as Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton, are 57.4%. That’s a 38% increase over 2020, and revenue grew 81%, to a total of $884.3 million. Independent hotel occupancy rates were reported at 49%, up 66% from a year earlier and the average daily rate is just under $155, up 21% from last year. 2020.
Those numbers, Riordan said, are year-over-year data. This data is used to make comparisons between one period and another that is a year earlier, allowing an annualized comparison between quarterly earnings for that year versus the previous year.
Riordan said the area’s growing popularity is bringing development benefits, such as efforts to revitalize and redevelop downtown Myrtle Beach.
“Business owners, investors and entrepreneurs are taking notice and taking their business to the beach,” Riordan said. “And the area also continues to attract new residents.”
Hotels aren’t the only industry in Myrtle Beach to see record recovery numbers. Riordan said Myrtle Beach International Airport set a state record in July for most passengers disembarking in a month with more than half a million.
“Normally Charleston and some of the other more established airports are number one,” Riordan said. “So that was quite telling for us in terms of the number of people we’ve hosted here.”
