SCPRT supports to provide a more complete picture of tourism in the state of Palmetto

I rarely find myself in a position to praise a state agency that I don’t even believe should exist … but the credit is due this week to the South Carolina Department of Park Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT).

What did the agency do?

Every week, this glorious marketing bureaucracy publishes data related to the state of the tourism industry in the state of Palmetto – which, as regular readers of this media outlet was aware, was in a difficult situation before the coronavirus pandemic began.

Not surprisingly, Covid-19 has had a disastrous impact on tourism in South Carolina – depriving the state of more than $ 5.7 billion in lost revenue a year ago. And, unfortunately, the malaise persisted this year.

As my news media tracked weekly data in 2021, he argued that SCPRT should change its traditional release and presentation model – which has so far compared the data for the current year with the previous year. Specifically, I asked the SCPRT to publish the previous two years comparison data. That way, readers would be able to track not only the industry’s recovery (with luck), but also get a sense of how far things are from where they were. before the pandemic has hit.

Last month, an editorial on this medium stated that “the 2021 figures will only be useful for comparison purposes until the first week of March – which is when we should revert to the 2019 data if we want to have a real sense of ( o) normal leave. “

That’s because mid-March last year was when the first wave of the pandemic began to close large sectors of the American economy – causing the state’s tourism economy to collapse.

To your credit, SCPRT heard … and is providing precisely the data comparison recommended by that medium.

Last week, SCPRT launched an updated tourism panel that included comparison data for 2019 and 2020.

“Starting this week, we will be adjusting the way we report indicators on the South Carolina weekly tourism panel today to include a three-year metrics comparison,” director of SCPRT Duane Parrish explained in an email message.

“As tourism in most of 2020 was negatively impacted by the pandemic, comparisons between 2021 and 2019 are more relevant to assessing our return to normality,” continued Parrish. “The comparison between 2021 and 2020, however, will show the extent of our recovery from the pandemic.”

Then … how are the numbers?

For the week ending March 6, 2021, the hotel’s revenue per available room – or “RevPAR” – recorded at $ 45.20, who was down 31.2 percent equivalent week in 2020 and below 36.1 percent of the equivalent week in 2019. Meanwhile, the metric has dropped 32.4 percent the same period in 2020 and 34.8 percent the same period in 2019.

Take a look …

(Click to view)

(Via: SCPRT)

In the coming weeks and months, the 2021 RevPAR data should start to eclipse the 2020 numbers – maybe dramatically.

At least that’s the hope …

When it comes to hotel occupancy rates in South Carolina, that metric stayed in 50.7 percent for the week ending March 6 – low 18 percent equivalent week last year and down 22.8 percent of the equivalent week in 2019.

In the accumulated result for the year, occupancy rates fell 20.2 percent from the same point in 2020 and down 23.5 percent below the same period in 2019.

Here are these numbers …

(Click to view)

(Via: SCPRT)

While I give credit to SCPRT for providing a much-needed context for these key tourism metrics, its latest data release was not everything it could be.

For example, SCPRT continues to omit weekly revenue estimates for the entire Tourism Economics – which means that readers are not getting a complete picture of the monetary impact of short-term highs or lows. Hopefully, the agency will fill that data gap in future releases – as this is one of the most important numbers to follow.

More importantly, just because SCPRT is offering comparison data that allows reporters to better assess the relative health of this industry, no it means that the agency is making smart decisions with taxpayer money. In fact, SCPRT – at the instruction of the governor of the status quo Henry McMaster – continues to spend tens of millions of dollars annually on “target marketing” scams that fail to move the needle in one direction or the other.

The agency also failed to offer anything that resembles a vision to diversify the state’s tourism economy … although this is a failure it shares with corrupt local leaders, who have done their best to tax South Carolina because of the competitiveness.

Can the state change things despite these shortcomings?

Absolutely …

“The 187-mile coast of South Carolina – anchored by picturesque Hilton Head, historic Charleston and the inimitable Grand Strand – is a huge competitive asset,” I wrote last fall. “This offers the state of Palmetto a tremendous opportunity to emerge from the coronavirus recession on a more solid economic basis than many other states.”

South Carolina leaders simply need to get out of the way and allow this sector to grow and diversify on its own …

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