Some tourists driven from the Outer Banks by Hurricane Isabel have sought to finish their vacations in South Carolina.

Others who planned vacations on the North Carolina coast also looked at visiting the Palmetto State, which was expected to escape Isabel's fury today.

It was too early to say whether the misfortune of North Carolina and other states would result in a tourist rush to South Carolina.

But the storm was clearly generating such interest, tourism officials said.

Every other phone call Wednesday to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce was coming from North Carolina, said chamber spokesman Stephen Greene.

"This is not something we want to capitalize on because our neighbors to the north have been battered time and again,'' Greene said. "But the bottom line is it is having an impact'' on tourism in Myrtle Beach.

At the S.C. welcome center on U.S. 17 in Little River, some inquiries came from people whose vacation plans in North Carolina had been ruined by the storm, said Betty Bowers, a travel consultant at the center.

Most had asked about staying in the Myrtle Beach area, but some North Carolina tourists also were looking at Charleston and Hilton Head Island, she said.

"They just didn't want to leave the coastline,'' Bowers said.

Even so, several major hotels in Myrtle Beach had not received inquiries from displaced vacationers, reservation desks reported. And some people had canceled vacations to South Carolina because they didn't want to leave their homes during a time of crisis, the Associated Press reported.

Tourism officials said they expect interest in South Carolina from North Carolina vacationers to pick up as the weekend approaches. Greene said plenty of rooms are available in Myrtle Beach because the summer tourist season has ended and the fall golf season is not yet in full swing.

Thousands of people abandoned parts of the Outer Banks this week as rough surf pounded the 120-mile-long chain of islands.

Harold Boyd and his family weren't ready to go home to western North Carolina from the Cape Hatteras area after they evacuated. So the family rented a nine-bedroom beach house in the Cherry Grove section of North Myrtle Beach. The Boyds are spending about $950 to rent the house through the weekend.

Soon after arriving Wednesday afternoon, many of the Boyd family members were on the beach or fishing.

"We're just kind of tired of traveling right now,'' said Boyd, whose family is from Marion, N.C., and usually vacations on the Outer Banks.

"The waves got so bad up there and there was so much debris in the water, you couldn't fish. It seems like good weather down here. Everybody is liking it so far.''

Holly Barbour, vacationing on the Outer Banks from Wheeling, W.Va., said she and her family planned to head to Myrtle Beach.

Spokespeople for Elliott Realty in North Myrtle Beach and Dunes Beach Vacations in Garden City said they had received a few calls and expect more as the weekend nears.

"Bring them on,'' Elliott Realty receptionist Betty Courtney said. "I wish they would all stay here.''

Dunes Realty rental manager Marilyn Cooper said her company had its first hurricane-related call Wednesday morning from an Atlanta resident who had left the Outer Banks. Her company rents about 850 condominium units and beach houses on the southern Grand Strand.

"We've had a lot of experience with this in the past," Cooper said. "I feel bad that we're benefiting from their bad luck up there, but at least the vacationers seeking other accommodations are staying in our area. "

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.