Remarks By Governor
David M. Beasley

1997 Governor's Conference on Tourism and Travel
February 5, 1997

It's great to be here in Fort Mill today to celebrate South Carolina tourism and to start seeking out those new frontiers that lie ahead.

Let me first say thanks to the folks of Fort Mill. You put together a tremendous package to get the Governor's Conference here, there's been a tremendous partnership, and the community has really rallied behind this event.

In fact, Mrs. Medlin's third grade class from Mount Gallant Elementary just gave me a tour of the York County Museum. They reminded me that every corner of South Carolina has something to offer our tourism efforts...whether it's the beaches or sports marketing or history or filmmaking.

Here's a case in point: Right now we're sitting in one of the state's premier convention centers, just down the road from one of the South's most popular amusement parks, in a region that's one of the hottest growth spots around.

Things are happening in York County tourism, just like they're happening all across our state.

I'm proud to report today that for two consecutive years, tourism in South Carolina has set a record pace.

1996 proved to be yet another record year, with over 32 million people vacationing in our state last year. That's the equivalent of all the citizens of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia put together.

But they came to South Carolina from around the world and from nearly every state, and they came spending a record $6.1 billion.

When you add up the total impact of those dollars, you more than double that figure to $13.1 billion...money that goes back into local economies, creating jobs and generating tax revenue for state and local governments.

When you consider the competition not just from other states, but also from the forces of nature, 1996 was an especially strong performance.

The eyes of the world were on the Olympic Games, but we capitalized on our neighbor's success by showcasing our own every chance we could.

The hurricane season sidetracked us, but we came together quickly to get our beaches back in business.

Every time a Bertha or a Fran strikes, the magnitude of what tourism means to this state hits home...when one lost day could mean at least $14 million in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of lives threatened.

I'd like to thank again our coastal merchants and hotel owners for your cooperation to protect both your businesses and the lives of others. We had tough decisions to make. And in the end, we had much to be thankful for.

Everyone in this room can take tremendous pride for your work making South Carolina a top tourist destination of the East Coast. Every day you are shaping our image around the world as a place of history, hospitality and beauty.

It's that natural beauty that's made South Carolina tourism what it is today, and so remain committed to striking a healthy balance between economy and environment.

We've spent millions on beach renourishment. We're creating a Palmetto Trail of hiking and nature walks from the mountains to the coast. And I've asked the General Assembly to help us buy 35,000 acres of pristine land around Lake Jocassee so we can protect that land for families to enjoy forever.

But even as we invest in protecting our state's natural beauty, we must also invest in the roads that keep our customers coming back for more.

We all share that same basic concern, because we all share a commitment to South Carolina's brand of customer service. We know that satisfied customers tell their friends about us, and we know that keeping old customers satisfied is a whole lot easier than finding new ones.

But good customer service extends beyond the hotel lobby, the dining room and the ticket counter. Good customer service means getting our customers here safely, without long waits in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Improving the quality of our roads across the state is one of my most pressing concerns, especially in booming tourism areas like Myrtle Beach and Charleston. Because when roadblocks stand between us and the people who want to get here, our progress will eventually hit a deadend.

Let us make a pact here today. You keep providing top quality service at your hotels, restaurants and attractions, and my administration will make a top priority to improve customer service on a broader scale...through our roads and bridges.

In my State of the State address two weeks ago, I called for the creation of a transportation infrastructure bank, through which we can fund top priorities like the recommendations of the RIDE Committee, the Grace Bridge in Charleston, the Bobby Jones Expressway in Aiken County, Highway 170 in Beaufort County, and various projects in Greenville.

Wall Street experts tell us that there's no way to generate enough bond capacity through the DOT to pay for all those projects without risking our AAA credit rating.

But an infrastructure bank...held accountable by an independent board...would issue its own bonds. We could tap into the unused bond capacity of the DOT and come up with more innovative financing options. At the same time, we could free up DOT resources so that projects further down on the list could get the attention they deserve.

The time has come to move forward with a united front and our most creative solutions to strengthen the roads carrying us into the future. Our customers -- and our residents -- deserve that kind of consideration.

Not only do we need highways of asphalt to carry us forward, but we also need to find our way along the highways of cyberspace.

I'm glad to see this conference's emphasis on exploring every available avenue of technology. Grace Young and her team at PRT understand that we can't approach a rapidly-changing industry like tourism with worn-out marketing strategies.

More than 50,000 people over the last five months have visited PRT's Web site...and it's even offered in Japanese and German.

And look at the success of Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort. Through their Web site, you can make reservations, get discount coupons, or golf and tennis information without picking up the phone. Now if they only had a magic formula for improving my golf game!

But the end result for Litchfield has been about $50,000 in bookings, all through the Internet.

This afternoon we're proud to unveil one more tool for bringing that technology to the millions of folks visiting our welcome centers.

It's my pleasure to introduce our new Accommodations Reservation System. It's a computerized system we'll be setting up over the next several weeks in every welcome center.

Not only do I get to unveil it, but I also get to be the first to use it. There's another one in the lobby for those of you who want to check it out later.

What I'm going to do is make reservations for next year's Governor's Conference at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach.

It has a touch screen, so it's easy to operate. I'm picking the Grand Strand region. Once we get there, we have a price range of rooms to select from. I'm going to find the category that includes the Kingston Plantation.

Once I make my choice, I turn on the phone that connects me to the hotel reservation system, and I'm ready to go.

That's all there is to it. Last year, 62,000 people made hotel reservations from our welcome centers. This system will complement the efforts of our welcome center staff, and we hope bring even more business to our hotel and motel owners.

Another technology initiative coming on line soon is called the Travel Information System or "T-I-S." It's another touch screen kiosk where visitors can see and hear all about points of interest across our state...with designs that are imaginative and technology that's state of the art.

Tourism is one of the most powerful forces for economic growth and change this state has ever known. We have to approach every road, every new frontier in tourism with that same spirit of change...with vision to see and creativity to achieve.

Because forging new frontiers is not for the faint of heart. It takes a pioneer spirit, possessed by men and women ready for any challenge. You are those pioneers, the hands willing to seize our vision and carry it through to completion.

The inventor Charles Kettering once said that there will always be a frontier where there is an open mind and a willing hand.

Together we are opening our minds to all kinds of possibilities...and we're ready to pursue every last one of them.

Thank you and best of luck as you make 1997 the best, most innovative and most productive year South Carolina tourism has ever seen.

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